A bibliometric analysis of teledentistry published in the category of dentistry, oral surgery and medicine

Background/purpose

Telemedicine has gained the popularity during COVID-19 pandemic. “Teledentistry” as the dental application of telemedicine was also with increased attention. The bibliometric analysis was employed to examine the global research trends and the current implementation status of teledentistry.

Materials and methods

Titles and subjects were searched in the Web of Science database by using the keywords “teledentistry OR oral telemedicine OR dental telemedicine OR telemedicine in dentistry” in the category of Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine. Documents were collected from the establishment date up to December 31, 2023. Microsoft Excel was used for the descriptive and statistical analyses. The data were exhibited with visualization by VOSviewer.

Results

A total of 146 articles were identified for bibliometric analysis. An upward trend in the number of publications was evident. The statistical analysis indicated a notable increased teledentistry publications affected by COVID-19 pandemic (P < 0.01). The applications of teledentistry were mainly related to clinical practice (89.73%), such as oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, dental caries, oral mucosal lesions, and dental emergencies. For geographic distributions, the United States lead with 46 publications (34%) by corresponding authors listed in the article. The keyword network analysis highlighted the prominent research areas and the changes influenced by the pandemic and technological development, respectively.

Conclusion

This bibliometric study provided an overview of the progress, trends and current directions for teledentistry in the fields of dentistry, oral surgery and medicine.