Oral Health: Diagnosis, Treatment and Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Oral health is a necessary standard that ensures people's well-being and cannot be neglected in any way, considering the interrelation with general health. In order to ensure good oral health, primary prevention is mandatory, and secondary prevention requires early diagnosis, to detect the diseases in the initial stages. Early diagnosis, made in the preclinical stages of oral cavity diseases, is the key to successful and long-lasting therapeutic outcomes, and is also essential for preventing irreversible structural damage, which involves complex regeneration techniques. The application of personalized and biofunctional treatments often requires the insertion of matrix systems that are biocompatible, have the biological properties to promote tissue regeneration and restore function, grafted or not with autologous/heterologous stem cells.

The purpose of this Special Issue (Oral Health: Diagnosis, Treatment and Materials) is to answer the following questions:

• Can we achieve the early diagnosis of destructive inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity by investigating the signaling and augmentation processes of matrix metalloproteinases? What impact do they have on overall health? How do these processes interact with tissue integration of matrix systems grafted with autologus stem cells? Can scaffolds carry substances that inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteinases?
• Can AGEs (Advanced Glycation End Products) be early markers of meta-inflammation in the oral cavity? What impact do they have on overall health? Can we use biosensors for detection of salivary AGEs? How can we block AGEs activity? What materials can be biofunctionalized with inhibitory compounds?
• How can we biofunctionalize living grafts for personalized and predictable medicine? Are matrix systems good hosts for cells? Under what conditions and how can we manipulate the cell niche?

By seeking answers to these questions, we can surely improve the quality of life of patients through personalized, predictable treatments using biofunctionalized materials.

Prof. Dr. Aranka Ilea
Dr. Adina Bianca Bosca
Dr. Anca-Ștefania Mesaroș
Guest Editors

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• oral health
• early stages of diagnosis
• matrix metalloproteinases
• advanced glycation end products
• salivary biosensors
• regeneration techniques
• personalized and biofunctional treatments
• scaffolds
• nanostructures
• living grafts
• stem cells