As a key regulatory element of gene differential expression, enhancer plays a crucial role in craniomaxillofacial development through regulating the spatiotemporal expression of target genes to promote tissue-specific differentiation. With the development of CRISPR and chromosome conformation capture technique, the function of enhancer and its regulatory mechanism has been explored in depth. This paper gave a systematic review on the mechanism of enhancer regulating target gene expression and the role of enhancer in oral craniofacial development and malformation.增强子是基因差异化表达的关键调控元件,通过调控靶基因的时空表达,促进细胞组织特异性分化,在口腔颅颌面发育过程中起重要作用。近年来,随着CRISPR技术的迅速发展和染色体构象捕获技术的不断进步,人们对增强子功能及其调控机制有了进一步认识。本文就增强子调控靶基因表达的机制及增强子在口腔颅颌面发育和畸形发生中的作用进行综述。.