TABLE 3.

Characteristics and effects of hydrogels in oral wounds.

Oral wound	The characteristics of hydrogels	Effects of application of hydrogels	References
Humid and highly dynamic oral wound environments.	Photocrosslinking, adhesion and degradability.	The hydrogel adheres to the oral mucosa, protects mucosal wounds from liquid flushing, oral movements and friction, and promotes healing of oral mucosal injuries in rats and pigs.	Zhang et al. (2021b)
Tooth-Extraction Wound Healing.	High strength, quick gel formation, injectable, anti-inflammatory.	The hydrogel is able to rapidly form a gel within seconds, has excellent antimicrobial properties, and is able to reduce the inflammatory infiltration of rat tooth extraction wounds.	Wang et al. (2022)
Moist and dynamic oral wound environment.	Protects the wound and isolates it from the external environment, with good resistance to dissolution, adhesion and adherence.	The hydrogel cross-links in situ to protect the wound, reduce acute inflammation in canine extraction wounds, and promote rapid healing of intraoral wounds.	Wu et al. (2022b)
Moist and dynamic oral wound environment.	Favorable adhesion properties, anti-oxidation.	The hydrogel was able to adhere to moist oral mucosal wounds and possessed excellent antioxidant ability, which could effectively shorten the inflammation period and promote the healing of oral wounds in diabetic rats.	Sun et al. (2023)
Dark, persistent bacterial irritation of oral mucosal wounds	Antibacterial.	The hydrogel possesses favorable antimicrobial ability and can promote the rapid healing of oral mucosal wounds in rats.	Qi et al. (2023)
Moist and dynamic oral wound environment.	Hemostatic and antimicrobial.	The hydrogel reduces inflammatory reactions, bleeding, and antimicrobial activity, thereby promoting rapid wound healing in patients with oral mucosal injuries.	de Jesus et al. (2023)
Salivary gland excision wound.	Promotes salivary gland regeneration.	The hydrogel sheet was able to promote the regeneration of salivary glands at the wound of submandibular gland excision in rats.	Miyake et al. (2020)
Periodontal damage.	Antibacterial, osteogenic.	The hydrogel resists Porphyromonas gingivalis, promotes osteogenesis and accelerates periodontal wound healing.	Zang et al. (2019)
Bacterial irritation.	Antibacterial, protects wounds.	The hydrogel is antimicrobial but does not affect the oral commensal microbiota and accelerates healing of infected extraction wounds.	Chen et al. (2023)
Direct exposure to the external environment.	Regulating macrophages.	The hydrogel modulates macrophage differentiation, inhibits transitional inflammatory responses, and promotes rapid repair of oral mucosal damage.	Wen et al. (2023)