Lesions on tissues and organs critically affect quality of life, due to severe tissue defects that are threatening. Tissue repair and functional reconstruction are concurrent challenges in modern medicine. Tissue engineering brings hope for tissue and organ regeneration. Scaffolds provide a microenvironment for cell growth, proliferation and differentiation. Moreover, scaffolds influence the size and morphology of regenerated tissues. Dentin matrix, which is a natural bioactive and biocompatible scaffold, has become a research hotspot in recent years and has been widely used in tissue engineering. Studies on the use of dentin matrix as scaffolds have made a series of important progress in tooth root, periodontal, dental pulp and bone regeneration. This review demonstrates the biological characteristics of dentin matrix as bioactive scaffolds, describes the application of dentin matrix in tissue regeneration and provides a theoretical basis for the use of a dentin matrix in clinical applications.
