Engineered bone grafts and bone flaps for maxillofacial defects: state of the art.
OBJECTIVE
This article focuses on the use of tissue-engineering techniques for the reconstruction of bone defects in the maxillofacial region.


RESULTS
A comprehensive and critical analysis of the literature showed that tissue-engineering procedures are effective in both animal studies and clinical case series. At the same time, it is clear that much work remains before these techniques can be used routinely in the clinical situation.


CONCLUSIONS
This review highlights areas that require further investigation, and proposes several solutions to make tissue-engineering procedures available for maxillofacial reconstruction in the near future.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong. torroni@hku.hk
Andrea
A
Torroni
D000818:Animals; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects; D016025:Bone Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000601:surgery*; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D013524:Surgical Flaps / Q000098:blood supply; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins