‘Oral bone’ primarily refers to the bones within the mouth, specifically the jawbones and the alveolar bone that supports teeth. Oral bone tissue defects are commonly caused by trauma, inflammation and surgical excision and their repair represents one of the core challenges in the field of oral medicine. The use of functional biomaterials for tissue regeneration has become a research focus in the field of damaged tissue treatment. However, following the implantation of biomaterials, the immune response induces the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the open and susceptible environment of oral bone predisposes it to redox imbalance, resulting in ROS accumulation and compromised repair. In response to this challenge, ROS-regulating biomaterials have developed into an effective platform for restoring redox balance. Despite this progress, current research lacks a systematic framework for the mechanism and design of biomaterials specifically addressing the special metabolism of oral bone. This review focuses on the physiological and pathological characteristics of oral bone, explores the interaction mechanisms between the oxidative stress and oral bone defects and provides a functional classification of regulation mechanisms. In addition, this review provides several corresponding suggestions for the development of targeted biomaterials according to the problems of existing ROS-regulating materials applied in oral bone repair.

Processibility and biodegradability of conductive polymers are major concerns when they are applied to tissue regeneration. This study synthesizes dissolvable and conductive aniline trimer-based polyurethane copolymers (DCPU) and processes them into scaffolds by using electrospinning with different patterns (random, oriented, and latticed). The effects of topographic cue changes on electrical signal transmission and further regulation of cell behaviors concerning bone tissue are researched. Results show that DCPU fibrous scaffolds possessed good hydrophilicity, swelling capacity, elasticity, and fast biodegradability in enzymatic liquid. In addition, the conductivity and efficiency of electrical signal transmission can be tuned by changing the surface’s topological structure. Among them, oriented DCPU scaffolds (DCPU-O) showed the best conductivity with the lowest ionic resistance value. Furthermore, the viability and proliferation results of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) demonstrate a significant increase on three DCPU scaffolds compared to AT-free scaffolds (DPU-R). Especially, DCPU-O scaffolds exhibit superior abilities to promote cell proliferation because of their unique surface topography and excellent electroactivity. Concurrently, the DCPU-O scaffolds can synergistically promote osteogenic differentiation in terms of osteogenic differentiation and gene expression levels when combined with electrical stimulation. Together, these results suggest a promising use of DCPU-O fibrous scaffolds in the application of tissue regeneration.