Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) is a clinical procedure promoting regeneration of periodontal tissues. In general, this technique provides spaces for periodontal cells to repopulate and regenerate in the periodontal defect by physically preventing an invasion of gingival tissues in the affected area. Although various reports certify clinical success of GTR, high variation of favourable outcome among studies leads to the investigation to improve clinical GTR efficiency for periodontal tissue regeneration. Recent development of GTR membrane aims to augment bioactivity for facilitating and enhancing tissue healing and regeneration. Various approaches are examined, for example, the release of growth factor, the incorporation of bioactive ceramics and the delivery of antimicrobial agents. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is widely used in biomedical application due to its acceptable biocompatibility and degradability. Physical characteristics are easy to manipulate. Various forms and shapes are simple to fabricate. PCL can be employed as GTR membrane and scaffold filling in the periodontal-defect area. Bioactive PCL could be fabricated by various techniques to enhance periodontal tissue regeneration. The present chapter reviews the bioactive approaches for GTR membrane, and the potential utilization of PCL for GTR application is described.
Part of the book: Periodontitis