[Tooth regeneration--dream to reality].

Tooth or dentition missing compromises human health physically and psychiatrically. Although several prosthesis methods are used to restore tooth loss, these restorations are still non-biological methods. It is a dream for human being to regenerate a real tooth for hundreds years. There are two ways to regenerate the tooth. One is application of conventional tissue engineering techniques including seed cells and scaffold. The other is regeneration tooth using dental epithelium and dental mesenchymal cells based on the knowledge of tooth initiation and development. Marked progress has been achieved in these two ways, while there is still a long way to go. Recently a new concept has been proposed for regeneration of a biological tooth root based on tooth-related stem cells and tissue engineering technique. A biological tooth root has been regenerated in swine. It may be a valuable method for restoration of tooth loss before successful whole tooth regeneration. A latest research showed that a subpopulation in bone marrow cells can give rise to ameloblast-like cells when mixed with embryonic epithelium and reassociation with integrated mesenchyme, which may provide a new seed cell source for tooth regeneration.