Understanding the pattern and molecular mechanisms of tooth, maxilla and mandible development is the prerequisite for studying their regeneration. Tooth development can be divided into three stages: bud-bell stage, tooth crown development stage and tooth root development stage. During these processes, key genes show spatial and temporal expression pattern. Tooth development is a complex process involving interactions between dental epithelium and mesenchyme, precise regulations of enamel knots in cusp patterning, as well as successful eruption into the oral cavity under proper biomechanical stress and signaling transductions. The development of tooth, maxilla and mandible, all of which originate from the first branchial arch, is independent and regulates each other to form a whole during development. Any developmental defects of them will ultimately cause defects to the others. In this paper, we briefly reviewed the development of tooth, maxilla and mandible, proposed that the homeostasis of microenvironment is critical for their development. Moreover, we reviewed the role of Meckel’s cartilage, a special structure and signaling mechanism during mandible development. At last, we proposed an integrated development model of tooth, maxilla and mandible. We also hope that the regeneration of fully functional tooth, maxilla and mandible in human can be achieved based on fundamental knowledge we have gained so far.

With the development of dental implant techniques, dental rehabilitation of partially or totally edentulous patients with oral implants has become a common practice. Adequate bone volume in the implant area is a key factor for the success of implant restoration. However, insufficient bone volume in the implant area is very common in clinical practice, which jeopardizes the structural, functional, and esthetic outcomes of implant treatment. Bone augmentation with bone grafts is one of the methods commonly used in clinical practice to meet the requirements of implantation. Properties of bone grafts, such as biocompatibility,osteoconduction, osteoinduction and osteogenesis, are important to the success of bone augmentation. This paper reviews current research on dental bone grafts about their clinically relevant capabilities, classification and their potential development in the future, in order to provide theoretical reference for clinical application of bone grafts and successful implant restoration.

The implant-supported prosthesis has gradually become the preferred treatment for patients with partial edentulous or complete edentulous. Causes for the implant failure have been discussed in the majority of studies conducted in recent years, while their risk factors are still controversial. Patient factors (gender, age, smoking, osteoporosis, diabetes, medication, periodontitis and bruxism), clinical parameters (implant area, bone quality, implant size) and doctor factors (surgical-related factors, prosthesis-related factors) will all affect implant failure. This article presents typical clinical cases and reviews the potential risk factors for dental implant failure, in order to provide guidance for clinical practice.

In the complications of dental implant treatment, the mechanical complications, such as central screw breakage, are often complex and serious. This article analyzes factors that affect the loosening of the central screw. Understanding relevant risk factors can prompt doctors to take corresponding strategies to reduce the possibility of complications in clinical operations. After encountering broken cases, this paper also gives some ideas and methods of treatment, and finally summarizes clinical suggestions for preventing the central screw fracture.

Abnormal implant placement is a common challenge in clinical work, including root direction, occlusion direction, mesial direction, distal direction, buccal (lip) direction, tongue (palate) direction, a total of 6 directions. Clinicians should pay great attention to the risk of many complications due to improper placement of implants. Understanding the etiology is the premise to effectively prevent the complications of implant restoration, and this article will discuss the causes, the classification of complications and related treatment principles and treatment plans from 6 different directions of abnormal implant positions.

Peri-implantitis and implant failure are common issues in the implant dentistry. The contaminated implant can be treated with mechanical, chemical and assisted methods for the formation of re-osseointegration. Re-osseointegration is achievable with valid bone regeneration strategies. The survival rate of implant into the site of previous failure is lower than that of the initial implant. For the hopeless and failed implant, it is necessary to remove the implant with corresponding technique.

As the key to regeneration of oral and maxillofacial tissues such as bone, dental pulp and skin, vascularization has always been the focus of tissue engineering. With the development of three-dimensional (3D) printing in tissue engineering, there are increasing ways to construct vascular structures. However, to achieve the objective of highly simulating vascular structure in morphology and function and promote tissue repair, it is still a major difficulty for 3D bioprinting to construct highly precise and biologically functional simulated vascular structures. This paper summarizes new progress of 3D printing vascular structure, expounds frontier biological manufacturing technologies of vascular and vascularized structure such as suspension printing, coaxial printing, 4D printing, and so on, analyzes its advantages and disadvantages, and discusses its development prospect, in order to provide reference for the application of 3D printing blood vessels in regeneration and repair of oral and maxillofacial tissues.

Chondroitin sulfate is an important component of extracellular matrix (ECM) in animal and human body. In recent years, chondroitin sulfate has been proven to have potential efficacy in biomedical application and has been widely used in bone regeneration and osteogenesis, especially in craniofacial reconstruction and dental medicine. Research shows that chondroitin sulfate derivatives and chondroitin sulfate composite scaffolds have great potential in promoting osteogenesis and biomineralization. However, due to the variety of chondroitin sulfate and various application forms, study on its mechanism of osteogenic repair is still insufficient. In this paper, biological characteristics, bone regeneration and osteogenesis of chondroitin sulfate, its application in different biomaterial design and future prospect are discussed.

Chitosan-based microspheres use chitosan as the main material to obtain particles with special structures through microsphere processing technology. They have the ability of slow and controlled release of drugs and the role of scaffolding, which have great application prospect in stomatology, but the application of chitosan-based microspheres is still in the research stage and has not yet been applied in clinical practice. This article reviews progress of domestic and foreign research on chitosan-based microspheres, in aspects of treatment of oral and jawbone tissue defects, periodontal diseases, dental pulp diseases and nerve tissue injury, in order to provide reference for follow-up research.