Functional Bioinks for Dental Tissue Engineering: Design Principles, Mechanisms, and Applications

This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in dental bioinks and their applications in oral tissue engineering, particularly for dental restoration materials. It highlights the pivotal role of bioinks in cell patterning, biomaterial fabrication, and their impact on dental tissue regeneration. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in the development of diverse bioink formulations, including single-component, multicomponent, dynamic, and nanocomposite systems, each with unique properties tailored to dental tissue engineering. Drawing on a wide range of studies, this review discusses advances in printing techniques, bioink functionalization, in vivo evaluations, and applications in key oral tissues such as dental pulp, dentin, periodontium, alveolar bone, and gingiva. A major challenge is translating these bioinks into predictable clinical outcomes, as the oral cavity imposes strict requirements on in situ stability and functionality under a wet, mechanically active, and bacteria-exposed environment. Critical challenges remain, including the need for efficient vascularization, overcoming mechanical heterogeneity, and sourcing appropriate cell types. Emerging strategies such as smart bioinks, intraoperative bioprinting, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted design are highlighted as promising directions. In addition, the integration of nanomaterials, gene-activated scaffolds, and immunomodulatory functions represents an important trend toward personalized and functional dental tissue restoration.