Objectives: 1. To evaluate and compare the development of “Tooth Regeneration” and “Tissue Engineering” over the last 50 years respectively. 2. To present a study analyzing the point of reconciliation of both fields invigorating regeneration of maxillofacial bones and tissues. 3. To propose application of tissue engineering methods to tooth regeneration paradigms revolutionizing restorative dentistry. Methods: 1. An electronic customised search was performed using PubMed database. Published studies from 1961 to 2014 were selected. The articles were recovered based on two major search terms (("tooth"[MeSH Terms] OR "tooth"[All Fields]) AND ("regeneration"[MeSH Terms] OR "regeneration"[All Fields])) and ("tissue engineering"[MeSH Terms] OR ("tissue"[All Fields] AND "engineering"[All Fields]) OR "tissue engineering"[All Fields]).Total of 6969 and 60974 articles were produced by respective searches. 2. Based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria further selection of articles was done to descriptively evaluate • Criteria of successful tissue regeneration • Paradigm shift A comparison was made on the trend of research over 50 years and commonly used criteria of successful tissue regeneration were projected graphically. Results: 1. Documented steady growth in research of regeneration therapies for dental surgery, orthodontics and periodontology over the last 50 years. 2. Comparison showed that research on concept of tooth regeneration in early 1960s was more than tissue engineering 3. Observation of a paradigm shift from the application of synthetic implants and tissue grafts to tissue engineering using scaffolds in medicine. 4. Demonstration of exponential growth in the use of bio-degradable and porous scaffolds seeded with living regenerative cells with immense success in tissue regeneration.
Conclusions: 1. The application potential of tissue generation as a viable superior alternative to grafts and implants has been established. 2. Research trends predicting potentially revolutionary advancements in tooth regeneration have been highlighted.