Reorienting goals in endodontic therapy: Pulp revitalisation, on the brink of a paradigm shift.

Objective: To assess literature related to the various aspects of dental pulp tissue engineering, its myriad protocols, inclusive of adjuvant surgeries, and to summarise the testing methodologies of pulp vitality.

Methods: The multidisciplinary systematic review was conducted at the Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, the National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, and HITEC Dental College, Taxilla, Pakistan, and comprised literature search on PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, Cochrane and Science Direct databases related to articles about 'revitalisation', 'revascularisation', 'dental pulp' and 'regeneration' published from January 2017 to January 2020.

Results: Of the 5,986 articles found through search, 14(0.23%) studies were selected; 8(57.1%) clinical trials, 1(7.1%) case series, and 5(35.7%) case reports with platelet concentrates. All the studies (100%) had observed standard clinical treatment procedures for canal disinfection. Current strategies of pulpal regeneration reported commendable success. Histological analysis of clinical trials is essential to ensure confirmatory evidence of quality of revitalisation.

Conclusions: The assessment of the impact of oral factors and a long-term follow up are required to produce a definitive understanding of the phenomenon.