Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a surgical technique that promotes new bone formation by gradually pulling apart bone segments using a specialized distraction device. Initially developed for orthopedic surgery, DO was introduced into craniofacial surgery in the 1990s and has since been widely applied in the treatment of mandibular hypoplasia and jaw defect reconstruction. This paper reviews the fundamental principles, technical aspects, indications, advantages, and disadvantages of mandibular distraction osteogenesis, and discusses different distraction modes, including unifocal, bifocal, and trifocal distraction. The advantages of DO include the avoidance of bone grafting, minimal surgical trauma, and simultaneous soft tissue expansion. However, its long treatment duration and associated complications remain challenges for broader clinical application. In the future, the integration of imaging navigation and artificial intelligence is expected to enhance surgical precision and treatment stability.

Surgically assisted rapid maxillary expansion (SARME) is a combined surgical-orthodontic treatment modality primarily used to address severe maxillary transverse deficiency (MTD) and dental arch constriction. SARME has undergone continuous refinement and optimization, becoming an essential therapeutic strategy in orthognathic treatment. This article comprehensively reviews the developmental trajectory of SARME, encompassing its surgical techniques, clinical efficacy, and potential complications. The review aims to provide clinicians and researchers with an updated perspective on SARME's evolving paradigm and propose future research directions.

Self-seeding, a distinct biological behavior of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), is prevalent in many malignant tumors and closely linked to tumor progression. While most research focuses on the relationship between CTCs and distant metastasis, the understanding of the biological impact of CTCs self-seeding on tumor initiation and local progression remains limited. This article reviews the role of CTCs in tumor progression via self-seeding, providing a new perspective for exploring the mechanisms underlying malignant tumor development.

Angiogenesis is one of the most important factors for the success of bone augumentation. Cortical bone decortication is considered as an essential part of bone augumentation procedure to promote angiogenesis. However, the actual role of decortication in bone augumentation is controversial derived from the present studies. This article summarizes the research results of decortication on guided bone regeneration (GBR), block bone grafting and periosteal distraction osteogenesis (PDO) through literature review, and analyzes the mechanism of decortication on bone regeneration and the reasons for the inconsistency of research results, in order to provide reference for clinicians to perform decortication in the process of bone augmentation.

After implantation of implants as foreign bodies into the jawbone, the immune and skeletal systems of the body regulate and adapt to each other, promoting bone resorption and remodeling around the implants. The imbalance of foreign body response may lead to loss of bone around the implants. This article summarizes the relevant factors that may trigger peri-implant immune response and lead to bone resorption, including peri-implant microbial infection, implant overload, poor overall condition, and biological wear of implant materials. Osteoclasts are currently the only known cells in the human body that can cause bone resorption, so their generation has been used as a clue to sort out several key pathways and factors that regulate this process, such as macrophage polarization, receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) / receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (RANK) / osteoprotegerin (OPG) pathway and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway. This review discusses the immune mechanism of peri-implant bone loss, providing insights for understanding the concept of osseointegration and treating peri-implant bone loss from an immune perspective.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of carbon dioxide fractional laser in early treatment of postoperative scar of primary cleft lip. Methods: A total of 24 children who had undergone primary cleft lip repair in the treatment group were treated with carbon dioxide fractional laser within three months after operation, and 24 children who had undergone primary cleft lip repair in the control group were not treated with laser after operation. Based on the subjective assessment by comparing photographs before and after the treatment and the objective assessment using Vancouver scar scale (VSS) scoring method, the scar conditions of the two groups were compared one year after laser therapy. Results: The total effective rate of the treatment group was 91.7% after the completion of the whole course of 4 treatments after 1 year, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The objective assessment results showed that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Carbon dioxide fractional laser is effective in the early treatment of postoperative scar of primary cleft lip, which is worthy of clinical application.

The complete resection of tumor and metastatic cervical lymph nodes are the key to the successful surgical treatment of oral cancer. However, during the operation, surgeons do not have a convenient and effective auxiliary means to evaluate the completeness of tumor eradication, in addition to relying on frozen biopsy techniques. In recent years, with the development of near-infrared fluorescence (NIF) imaging, fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) has gradually evolved, providing important real-time intraoperative assistance for surgeons, and has also been widely recognized and applied in clinical practice. The application of fluorescence imaging in the surgical treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still in its early stages. This article introduces the specific clinical application scenarios of this technology in oral cancer surgery, discusses the current challenges, and looks forward to future development, so as to provide reference for its clinical application and research.

The 5th edition of the Classification of Head and Neck Tumours by the World Health Organization (WHO) was published in March 2022. In the section on oral cavity and mobile tongue tumours, the classification of epithelial tumours in the 5th edition has undergone several modifications compared to the 4th edition published in 2017. Notably, oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) and oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) have been addressed separately, and in-depth discussions have been included regarding submucosal fibrosis (SF) and human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oral epithelial dysplasia (HPVOED). Additionally, the section on squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) now includes carcinoma cuniculatum (CC) and verrucous carcinoma (VC), emphasizing their distinctive clinical and histological characteristics. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent advancements in clinical, histological, and molecular research on epithelial tumours of oral cavity and mobile tongue since 2017.

In recent years, great progress has been achieved in molecular detection of salivary gland carcinomas, and more and more genetic changes have been found. These genetic changes play an important role in the pathological diagnosis of salivary gland carcinomas, and also have an impact on the naming, classification and discovery of new types of salivary gland carcinomas. In this review, we will introduce the important genetic alterations in salivary gland carcinomas and the changes of corresponding protein expression in some tumors. These changes play an important role in the pathological diagnosis, prognosis evaluation and targeted treatment of the related carcinomas.

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) has been proved to be an efficient technique for alveolar bone augment in more than 40 years' clinical practice. The fundamental components of GBR technology involve ensuring ample blood supply and establishing a stable environment. However, current GBR technology primarily operate under the theoretical framework of "blood supply-core principle" with insufficient emphasis on the significance of stability. Through thorough literature review and a series of clinical trials, we propose a paradigm shift — a dental alveolar bone repair and reconstruction concept centered on "stability-core principle". Under this innovative approach, we have introduced a novel treatment method that utilizes exclusively artificial bone powder for the repair of severe dental alveolar bone defects. This groundbreaking development challenges the conventional international practice that necessitates the use of autogenous bone for bone defect repairs. This article delves into the historical trajectory of GBR technology, highlighting the critical importance of stability. Integrating this insight with existing bone regeneration theories, we provide a detailed exposition on the new technique for dental alveolar bone repair and reconstruction, centered around the core principle of "stability".

Dental and maxillofacial tissue defects represented by tooth defect and/or loss, and maxillofacial bone defect are very common in oral and maxillofacial patients. The current treatment methods include autologous or allogeneic tissue transplantation, artificial synthetic material simulation replacement, etc., which cannot achieve physiological dental and maxillofacial tissue structure and function repair. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have extensive and powerful potential in regenerative medicine application. Stem cell polymer technology based on the principle of mesenchymal condensation and development has the functional characteristics of maintaining cell stemness, remodeling regenerative microenvironment, and restarting histological differentiation. It has been successfully applied to the regeneration and repair of dental pulp, periodontal and bone tissue, which has obtained good efficacy in related clinical trials, and possess a better clinical transformation prospect. Good results have been obtained in relevant clinical trials, and it has a good prospect of clinical transformation. This review highlights the theoretical basis, construction method and research status of stem cell polymerization in dental tissue regeneration, so as to provide new clinical treatment ideas for better realization of the regeneration and repair of dental tissue defects.

The maxillary sinus floor elevation surgery through the crest of the alveolar ridge is a commonly used method to solve the problem of insufficient residual bone height (RBH) required for implant restoration in the posterior maxillary region. There are currently many controversies relating to this operation, including the mechanism of osteogenesis in the maxillary sinus, the selection of surgical methods for maxillary sinus floor elevation, the timing of simultaneous implantation, the impact of age or gender, and the need for bone substitutes. Based on the research of our group on the mechanism of maxillary sinus osteogenesis, combined with the treatment effect of maxillary sinus floor elevation surgery in the Department of Oral Implantology in our hospital for over 10 years. This article summarizes the clinical operation rules and internal correlations in order to achieve the translational medicine model that combines theoretical research with clinical practice and ultimately guides clinical practice. A summary of the methods and techniques for clinical operations has been outlined in order to achieve a combination of theoretical research and practical clinical guidance, proposing a more optimized and simplified solution and the concept for maxillary sinus floor elevation surgery called transalveolar maxillary sinus floor elevation (TSFE), which involves the use of concentrated growth factors (CGF) and simultaneous implantation of dental implants.

Recently, with the economic and social development, people have increasing demands for aesthetics and minimally invasive surgical procedures. As a typical representative of minimally invasive surgery(MIS), endoscope-assisted surgery has achieved rapid development and has occupied the mainstream position in thoracic, abdominal and pelvic surgeries. Although endoscope-assisted technology has been applied and explored very early in oral and maxillofacial surgery, it has not yet been widely promoted and applied. Recently, with the development of surgical concepts, the improvement of people′s needs, the advancement of endoscopic equipments and the improvement of supporting instruments, the application of endoscopy in the oral and maxillofacial surgery has also ushered in new development opportunities. In this article, we summarize the history and current situation of the application of endoscopy in oral and maxillofacial surgery, expounds the current bottlenecks, and hope to make more specialists put more exploration into the development of endoscope-assisted oral and maxillofacial surgery, so as to promote the rapid development of this technique.

Radiation damage to salivary gland tissue caused by radiation therapy in patients with head and neck tumors is a common complication and has a life-long impact on patients. The researches of stem cell therapy in the treatment of these damage have showed that it could partly alleviate the symptoms of xerostomia. Now, the majority of trials focus on low-immunogenicity mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for allogeneic administration. However, potential shortcomings of stem cell therapy include the source of stem cells, the fusion of stem cells with target organs and long-term survival in the body, differentiation into functional cells and etc. Most researches have showed that MSCs regulate host cells, including dormant cells of radiation-damaged tissues, and ameliorate inflammation for tissue regeneration via extracellular vesicles (EVs) or exosomes. Therefore, the concept of cell-free therapy on radiation-damaged tissues by EVs or exosomes, is gradually attracting attention. Cell-free therapy is not limited by the dose of exosomes, and has the advantages of safety, easy access to tissues and organs and etc. However, the development of cell-free therapy exhibits its own set of challenges such as the contents of MSC exosomes are not constant. This paper reviews the relevant literature on stem cell therapy and cell-free therapy research, and gives an outlook on the research of these therapies.

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a serious complication of jaw caused by the use of anti-bone resorption and anti-angiogenesis drugs. A large amount of literature has been reported about different treatment approaches of MRONJ, ranging from conservative treatment to surgical treatment, and sometimes adjuvant therapy. However, there is no definite conclusion which specific treatment approaches should be adopted at different stages of MRONJ. This paper comments the treatment approaches at different stages of MRONJ through reviewing the related references in recent years and combining the authors′ clinical experience, thus providing a reference for clinicians.

Microvascularized bone tissue transplantation is an important milestone in reconstruction of jaws after resection of jaw tumors. Although the traditional free osteomyocutaneous flap transplantation immediately reconstructs the jaw, it takes 6 to 18 months to restore the dentition. Dentition defect seriously affects the quality of life of patients and puts a great psychological burden on patients. With the advent of“4P” medicine era, surgery forwards higher requirements on predictability and personalization. Simultaneous reconstruction of jaw and dentition(jaw-in-a-day) is the state of the art in complete jaw reconstruction at present, which can meet the above requirements. Jaw-in-a-day means with the support of virtual surgery and computer aided design/computer aided manufacture（CAD/CAM）, combining jaw tumor resection, vascularized osteomyocutaneous free flap transplantation, dental implant placement and provisional denture restoration in one surgery. The shape and function of the patient are reconstructed immediately in jaw-in-a-day, which reflects an “occlusion-driven reconstruction” notion; However, perioperative management and surgical process, and surgical skills and trouble-shooting need to be elucidated.