Biomimetic regenerative materials in restorative dentistry and endodontics

Aim: To review the clinical outcomes and evidence-based findings regarding biomimetic material properties and its use in surgical endodontics. Materials and Methods: A bibliographic search was carried out in MEDLINE-PubMed/Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases using the following keywords: biomimetic material OR periapical regeneration OR biomaterial OR regenerative endodontics OR periapical regeneration. The inclusion criteria included clinical studies in vivo (humans) till December 2021 with a minimum of 3-month follow-up. Both electronic and manual searches were performed to obtain the relevant articles. Results: The search yielded 204 references. After reading the titles and abstracts, 181 articles were eliminated as they were not complying with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty-three articles were selected for full-text reading. The studies that used biomimetic materials in human clinical trials as a bone graft (8 articles) or barrier membrane (7 articles) or both combined (8 articles) were selected for full-text reading. Conclusion: Biomimetic materials attempt to focus on rebuilding the natural biological systems using artificial or synthetic material while mimicking organic tissues. Thus, this paper describes the core principles of biomimetics and elucidates the various biomaterials used clinically in surgical endodontics for regeneration.