SCIENCE MAPPING OF RESEARCH CLUSTERS AND CORE RESEARCH AREAS IN REMOVABLE PARTIAL DENTURES

Received 2024-02-19; Accepted 2024-03-19; Published 2024-03-25

Abstract

Science mapping helps provide a comprehensive review of a topic of interest based on the enormous scientific output in the academic literature. The study aims to identify research clusters, core research areas, and the highest impact terms based on the co-occurrence of keywords in removable partial dentures (RPDs) research for the past ten years, from 2012–2022. The search was done using the truncated search term "removable partial denture*" OR "removable prostho*" based on the papers extracted from the Scopus database, and a bibliometric analysis tool was employed to automate keyword mapping. Data analysis and visualisation were done using Biblioshiny software (RStudio Desktop) and VOSviewer (Version 1.6.18). The search yielded 1043 articles following the refinement criteria. Data was cleaned to remove duplication and exclude irrelevant topics, leaving 888 documents from 114 journals to be analysed. From the 679 keywords extracted, six clusters were identified, enabling researchers to find research clusters: cluster 1 (predominantly complete dentures and shortened dental arches), cluster 2 (clasp in relation to materials), cluster 3 (latest technologies in RPDs fabrication), cluster 4 (implant-related), cluster 5 (quality-of-life (QoL)) and cluster 6 (abutment teeth). For the year 2012-2022, further analysis reveals that “polyetheretherketone (PEEK)”, “3D-printing”, and “systematic review” were identified as the top three high-impact terms based on the annual citation and annual normalised citation scores. Research on "implant’ and "oral health QoL" has been identified as primary core research areas in RPDs-related research from 2012-2017, while “CAD-CAM”, “3D-printing”, “clasp" and “PEEK” emerged as new areas of interest among researchers in 2018-2022. PEEK has been identified as the highest impact term for the past ten years, highlighting the possible future research interest in RPDs-related research. Incorporating digital technologies in RPDs fabrication using high-performance polymers as materials is expected to increase in the future.