DefinePK

Abstract

Biomedical research has been dramatically transformed with the creation of gene editing technologies such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR). Their application spans across multiple systemic diseases as they allow for precise, cost-effective, and reliable genome modifications. But their potential in the field of oral biology remains underexplored. This editorial discusses the emerging role CRISPR is having in oral biology, especially its uses in regeneration and oral related diseases treatment. Modifications of oral defective cleft lip or amelogenesis imperfecta or dentinogenesis imperfecta can be treated with mutation targeting techniques that CRISPR offer us. Not only this, but new oral microbiome modulation approaches can be employed to target and prevent dental caries and periodontitis. The broader adoption of emerging technologies, including in vivo delivery systems and CRISPR diagnostics, pose additional opportunities, but issues such as effective delivery to oral tissues, off-target mutations, and ethical implications persist. Multidisciplinary CRISPR implementation will help advance medicine and quite literally change the game for oral health and patient care across the globe.