Scientific Interests of 21st Century Clinical Oral Implant Research: Topical Trend Analysis

Abstract

Background: Discrimination between ongoing and solved research questions may help to distinguish established dogmas from evidence-based implant dentistry.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate topics of interest in the field of oral implant science and evolving thematic trends in clinical studies during the last decade.

Materials and methods: Electronic and manual searches of English literature were performed to identify clinical studies on oral implants. Out of 15,695 publications screened, 2,875 clinical investigations were included.

Results: Among the most prevalent topics were immediate loading (14.3%), bone substitutes (11.6%), lateral sinus grafting (10.7%), implant overdentures (10.5%), single-tooth implant crowns (8.8%), cross-arch implant bridges (8.0%), immediate implant placement (7.5%), implant surfaces (7.0%), simultaneous implant placement and augmentation (6.4%) as well as guided bone regeneration (5.3%). Significant increase of scientific interest was seen in immediate loading (+6.3%, p < .001), platform switching (+2.9%, p < 0.001), lateral sinus grafting (+2.3%, p = .024), flapless implant surgery (+2.2%, p < 0.001), and guided implant surgery (+1.9%, p = .011), while research on implant overdentures (-6.6%, p = .033) and tooth-to-implant connection (-2.5%, p = .010) was on the decline.

Conclusions: Literature coverage, since the beginning of the 21st century, has seen greater focus on surgical topics compared to prosthodontic issues (p = .005) while only few topics experienced decrease of interest indicating scientific consensus.

Keywords: bone substitutes; dental implant; evidence-based dentistry; immediate dental implant loading; implant-supported dental prosthesis; sinus floor augmentation.