Dental tissue involves postnatal stem cells with easy accessibility and regenerative potential. Dental tissue-derived stem cells include dental pulp stem cells, stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth, periodontal ligament stem cells, dental follicle progenitor stem cells, and stem cells from the apical papillas. These stem cells all possess odontogenic, osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation potential, which contribute to the development, repair, and regeneration of oral and maxillofacial tissues. The potential depends on the detailed regulation of stem cell fate determination, including self-renewal, pluripotency, multipotency, proliferation, and committed differentiation. Genetic and epigenetic regulations form the current knowledge about the regulation of stem cell fate determination.

Epigenetic mechanisms are designated to alter gene function in cell fate determination without changes to the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence, including posttranslational modifications of histone proteins or posttranscriptional regulation by non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) and RNA modification. These epigenetic mechanisms have been proposed to convey temporal and spatial precision to the expression of lineage control genes during stem cell differentiation and organogenesis. Therefore, it is reasonable to uncover the potential of epigenetic regulation of dental tissue-derived stem cells in development, tissue repair, and regeneration. Accumulating studies have reported the contribution of epigenetic regulators, such as histone lysine demethylase, DNA methyltransferase, to odontogenic differentiation of dental mesenchymal stem cells or developmental abnormalities of teeth. However, the epigenetic regulation of dental tissue-derived stem cell fate determination in oromaxillofacial tissues/organs and its application potential in clinics remain poorly understood.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together original research and review articles highlighting the role of epigenetics in determining the fate of stem cells. We welcome submissions discussing the clinical translation of the research, including preventing developmental defects in oral and maxillofacial tissues/organs and potential treatment strategies for stem cell-based repair or regeneration.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Epigenetic factors on stem cell fate and oromaxillofacial tissue and organ development
• Epigenetic factors on DNA modifications, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs
• Epigenetic mechanisms in dental tissue-derived stem cells and tooth development
• Impact of maternal changes on the epigenome of dental tissue-derived stem cells
• Impact of environmental changes on the epigenome of dental tissue-derived stem cells
• Impact of metabolic clues on the epigenome of dental tissue-derived stem cells
• Effect of epigenetic regulation of dental tissue-derived stem cells on oromaxillofacial developmental defects caused by environmental changes or metabolic clues
• Epigenetic regulation of stem cells in dental developmental defects induced by maternal changes
• Epigenetic regulation of stem cells during inflammatory reaction in deep caries of deciduous teeth and immature permanent teeth
• Epigenetic regulation of stem cells during the formation of tertiary dentinogenesis
• Therapeutic strategies based on epigenetic regulation of stem cell fate to improve repair outcomes (e.g., vital pulp therapy, regenerative endodontics, and craniofacial bone repair)