Gui Yu, Zhang Yunpeng, Xu Haoyang, Yang Wanli, Huang Haitong, Gu Mengqin, Sun Yu
School of Stomatology, Hainan Medical University and Hainan Academy of Medical Sciences, Haikou, Hainan, China.
Chongqing Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Chongqing Municipal Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering of Higher Education, Chongqing Municipal Health Commission Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Engineering, The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2025 Aug 4;13:1605672. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1605672. eCollection 2025.
Periodontal and oral mucosal diseases are prevalent oral health challenges. Thanks to the natural constraints imposed by the moist and complex intraoral environment, current therapeutic modalities are significantly limited by two key issues: inefficient, low sustained drug release and short intraoral drug retention times, both of which compromise therapeutic efficacy. To address these challenges, hydrogels-a novel class of biomaterials with unique biological and physicochemical properties-have emerged as promising solutions. Hydrogels, with their 3-dimensional (3D) polymer network, are promising biological reagents, particularly for drug delivery. They achieve controlled and sustained release at target sites, and coupled to their therapeutic outcomes, their use in oral healthcare is critical. Consequently, hydrogels have been extensively investigated in both foundational and clinical research, particularly within a wound dressing context. This article systematically examines the limitations associated with conventional therapies and elucidates the mechanisms underpinning the therapeutic efficacy of hydrogels in managing different periodontal and oral mucosal diseases. Furthermore, we explore the clinical challenges and opportunities associated with applying hydrogel-based strategies in oral therapeutics, and we propose future directions for hydrogel research and development.
牙周病和口腔黏膜病是常见的口腔健康挑战。由于口腔内潮湿且复杂的环境所带来的自然限制，当前的治疗方式受到两个关键问题的显著限制：药物释放效率低下、持续时间短以及口腔内药物保留时间短，这两个问题都会影响治疗效果。为应对这些挑战，水凝胶——一类具有独特生物学和物理化学性质的新型生物材料——已成为有前景的解决方案。水凝胶具有三维（3D）聚合物网络，是很有前景的生物试剂，尤其适用于药物递送。它们能在靶位点实现可控和持续释放，并且鉴于其治疗效果，其在口腔保健中的应用至关重要。因此，水凝胶已在基础研究和临床研究中得到广泛研究，特别是在伤口敷料方面。本文系统地研究了传统疗法的局限性，并阐明了水凝胶在治疗不同牙周病和口腔黏膜病时的治疗效果背后的机制。此外，我们探讨了在口腔治疗中应用基于水凝胶的策略所面临的临床挑战和机遇，并提出了水凝胶研发的未来方向。
