UNLABELLED: A new direction in the field of vital pulp therapy is given by the introduction of tissue engineering as an emerging science. It aims to regenerate a functional tooth-tissue structure by the interplay of three basic key elements: stem cells, morphogens and scaffolds. It is a multidisciplinary approach that combines the principles of biology, medicine, and engineering to repair and/or regenerate a damaged tissue and/or organ. This two part article reviews and discusses the basic concept and strategies so far studied and researched for the engineering of basic dental tissues, to restore a functional tooth anatomy. This first part focuses on a detailed description of key elements used in tissue engineering and their applied clinical applications in dentistry. The second part will deal with the strategies that are being used and/or developed to regenerate the tooth tissues with the help of this scientific principle. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The field of tissue engineering has recently shown promising results and a good prospect in dentistry for the development of the most ideal restorations to replace the lost tooth structure with a functional replacement.