AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026270278
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Early Access

3D-printed scaffolds for periodontitis therapy: Spatial programming and microenvironmental regulation

Ziyi Xu1,2 Huina He2 Yue Wang2 Yuxuan Sun2 Haoyang Wu2 Jingchen Xu3*
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1 Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
2 State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Center for Stomatology & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China
3 Department of Dental Medical Center, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China
Received: 29 June 2026 | Revised: 30 July 2026 | Accepted: 10 August 2026 | Published online: 10 August 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by plaque biofilm dysbiosis, immune dysregulation, oxidative stress, alveolar bone resorption, and impaired wound healing. Although conventional periodontal therapies can reduce microbial burden and slow disease progression, predictable regeneration of the cementum-periodontal ligament (PDL)-alveolar bone complex remains difficult in irregular, infected, and inflammation-compromised defects. Three-dimensional (3D) printing offers a programmable strategy for fabricating periodontal scaffolds with patient-specific geometry, tunable pore architecture, spatially distributed materials, and region-specific biological functions. This review summarizes recent advances in 3D-printed scaffolds for periodontitis therapy and periodontal tissue regeneration, with emphasis on spatial programming and microenvironmental regulation. We first analyze the pathological barriers dictating scaffold design requirements, including persistent biofilms, unresolved inflammation, oxidative stress, disrupted bone homeostasis, and defective healing. We then discuss major printing modalities, material platforms, and biomimetic design strategies, including patient-specific customization, multiphasic compartmentalization, PDL fiber guidance, vascularization-oriented pore networks, and integrated barrier control. Functional strategies involving antibacterial activity, immuno-redox regulation, tissue-specific regenerative cues, neurovascular support, and spatiotemporal delivery are highlighted. Finally, we outline challenges in material optimization, disease-relevant modelling, functional evaluation, manufacturing standardization, and clinical translation. Future 3D-printed periodontal scaffolds should evolve from passive defect fillers into microenvironment-driven precision regenerative systems for functional periodontal reconstruction.

Keywords
Periodontitis
3D printing
Bioprinting
Scaffold
Spatial programming
Tissue engineering
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing