Theme: Scaffolds for Use in Regenerative Dental Medicine
Sponsored by: Mineralized Tissue
Description: Over the recent years significant progress has been made in the development of bioinspired materials and therapeutic approaches. Although some of these new technologies are developed in craniofacial models or have a potential to revolutionize dental and craniofacial medicine, the dental community is not well informed about these new and exciting developments.   The goal of this symposium is to provide an update on the current scientific developments, which can lead to novel bioinspired technologies for craniofacial repair and regeneration. Dr. Sfeir (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA) will talk about NanoCaP cements for craniofacial regeneration, which utilize calcium phosphate nanoparticles as carriers for osteogenic molecules. These cements cure at physiological pH and can be resorbed in the body and substituted by bone tissue in a matter of months. These unique properties of tNanoCaP bioinspired cements provide a major improvement over the current calcium phosphate materials used in orthopedic and craniofacial applications. Dr. Gower (University of Florida, Gainesville, FL) will present her studies of bioinspired approaches to development of artificial bone-like composites, using bioinspired synthetic peptides and colloagen fibrils. The goal is to produce hierarchical nanocomposites, which are similar structurally and compositionally to the mineralized tissues for applications in hard tissue engineering and repair. Dr. Little (University of Pittsburgh, PA) will present his research into periodontal regeneration using a multicomponent controlled release strategies, using rationally designed microparticles with tailored release profile. This system will be used to release factors to regulate the immune response at the site of periodontal disease.
Learning Objectives:
To provide an update on the novel state of the art approaches to craniofacial repair and regeneration