Netherlands-based research team’s successful development of a gum tissue for transplantation to aid wound healing in mouth (oral cavity) reconstruction has advanced.
Dr. Susan Gibbs says that skin substitutes have been far more advanced than oral gingiva substitutes and up until this study, no oral tissue-engineered products have been available in a clinical setting. The team was the first to develop a same patient full thickness skin substitute
“Reconstructive surgery within the oral cavity is required during tumor excision, cleft palate repair, trauma, repair of diseased tissue and for generating soft tissue around teeth and dental implants,” explained Dr. Gibbs. “Drawbacks of using skin as an autograft material in the oral cavity include bulkiness, sweating and hair formation and the limited amount of donor tissue available.”
Their current study was aimed at constructing analogous, full-thickness oral substitutes in a similar manner to their skin substitute while maintaining the needed characteristics for successful oral transplantation. They used small amounts of patient oral tissue obtained from biopsies.
Results of their study with a small number of patients showed that the gingiva substitute was “promising” and and a larger patient study is needed in the future.
“This study emphasized the importance of closely matching the donor site with the area to be transplanted,” said Dr. Gibbs. “Our results represent a large step forward in the area of clinical applications in oral tissue engineering which, until now, have lagged behind skin tissue engineering.”
The study provides great encouragement for the ability to repair gingivitis and other gum diseases that affect a large number of people.
Adapted from materials provided by Cell Transplantation via EurekAlert, a service of AAAS.