Pathophysiological mechanisms of root resorption after dental trauma: a systematic scoping review

BACKGROUND: The objective of this scoping review was to systematically explore the current knowledge of cellular and molecular processes that drive and control trauma-associated root resorption, to identify research gaps and to provide a basis for improved prevention and therapy. METHODS: Four major bibliographic databases were searched according to the research question up to February 2021 and supplemented manually. Reports on physiologic, histologic, anatomic and clinical aspects of root resorption following dental trauma were included. Duplicates were removed, the collected material was screened by title/abstract and assessed for eligibility based on the full text. Relevant aspects were extracted, organized and summarized. RESULTS: 846 papers were identified as relevant for a qualitative summary. Consideration of pathophysiological mechanisms concerning trauma-related root resorption in the literature is sparse. Whereas some forms of resorption have been explored thoroughly, the etiology of others, particularly invasive cervical resorption, is still under debate, resulting in inadequate diagnostics and heterogeneous clinical recommendations. Effective therapies for progressive replacement resorptions have not been established. Whereas the discovery of the RANKL/RANK/OPG system is essential to our understanding of resorptive processes, many questions regarding the functional regulation of osteo-/odontoclasts remain unanswered. CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review provides an overview of existing evidence, but also identifies knowledge gaps that need to be addressed by continued laboratory and clinical research. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-021-01510-6.