The use of quantitative light-induced fluorescence in carious lesions research: A bibliometric review

Objective: This bibliometric analysis evaluated the top 100 most-cited articles on the application of quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF) technology in caries research. Data: The following data were collected: title, authors, country, institution, citations count, title and year of article, study design, topic and keywords. Networks among authors and keywords were constructed by VOSviewer software. Sources: Scopus database on April 25, 2024. Study selection: A global citation score of 4633 (average 46.33 citations) was calculated with publication years ranged from 1999 to 2020. Caries Research emerged as the top contributing journal. Pretty IA was the most prolific author (18 %). United Kingdom had the highest number of most-cited papers (32 %), followed by Netherlands and USA (20 % each). Laboratory studies constituted the predominant study design (45 %), followed by randomized clinical trials (20 %) and non-systematic reviews (11 %). The keywords "dental caries" and "fluorescence" had 81 and 79 occurrences, respectively. The main topic was QLF use for caries detection (45 %). Conclusions: This paper provides an update summary of the scientific impact of QLF technology application in caries research. QLF has gained increasing attention worldwide, accompanied by a consistent rise in scientific investigations exploring its application in caries research. Clinical significance: The findings offer valuable insights into the most influential articles in QLF technology for caries assessment, serving as a critical resource for researchers, clinicians, and students. Understanding the trends in this field can aid in informed decision-making and the advancement of evidence-based practices in caries management and prevention.