Scientific Review on the Recent Developments of Functional Scaffolds for Craniomaxillofacial Bone Tissue Engineering Applications

Autogenous bone grafting remains a gold standard for the reconstruction critical-sized bone defects in
the craniomaxillofacial region. Nevertheless, this graft procedure has several disadvantages such as
restricted availability, donor-site morbidity, and limitations in regard to fully restoring the complicated
three-dimensional structures in the craniomaxillofacial bone. The ultimate goal of craniomaxillofacial
bone reconstruction is the regeneration of the physiological bone that simultaneously fulfills both
morphological and functional restorations. Developments of tissue engineering in the last two decades
have brought such a goal closer to reality. In bone tissue engineering, the scaffolds are fundamental,
elemental and mesenchymal stem cells/osteoprogenitor cells and bioactive factors. A variety of
scaffolds have been developed and used as spacemakers, biodegradable bone substitutes for
transplanting to the new bone, matrices of drug delivery system, or supporting structures enhancing
adhesion, proliferation, and matrix production of seeded cells according to the circumstances of the
bone defects. However, scaffolds to be clinically completely satisfied have not been developed yet.
Development of more functional scaffolds is required to be applied widely to cranio-maxillofacial bone
defects. This paper reviews recent trends of scaffolds for crania-maxillofacial bone tissue engineering,
including our studies.