The 50 most-cited articles on clear aligner treatment: A bibliometric and visualized analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Research on clear aligner treatment (CAT) has increased in recent years. In this study, we aimed to perform a bibliometric and visualized analysis to identify and critically assess the 50 most highly cited articles on CAT. METHODS: Web of Science was selected as a data source and consulted until March 2020 to identify all articles potentially relevant to the analysis. All the eligible articles were collected until 50 manuscripts were listed. Article-based parameters, journal-based parameters, and author-based parameters were registered to perform the bibliometric analysis. Keywords were automatically harvested from the selected articles to implement the visualized analysis. RESULTS: The search identified a total of 378 articles; the total number of citations of the selected articles varied from 15 to 112. The average number of citations per year varied from 1.15 to 13.83. The predominant study design was clinical (31.7%). Over the 15 journals in which the most cited articles were published, the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics published the majority of those included in the list (14) and also received the greatest number of citations (671). A total of 195 authors contributed to the 50 most cited articles; a significant portion of them (26) were unaffiliated with academic institutions. A total of 184 keywords were gathered from the article list. CONCLUSIONS: The number of citations on CAT is expected to grow steadily in parallel with the rising number of research projects. The present work identifies the most influential articles on CAT and their characteristics, placing emphasis on the journals, the authors, and the topics addressed.

Nano-Pore Size of Alumina Affects Osteoblastic Response.

The rapid development and application of nanotechnology to biological interfaces has impacted the bone implant field, allowing researchers to finely modulate the interface between biomaterials and recipient tissues. In the present study, oxidative anodization was exploited to generate two alumina surfaces with different pore diameters. The former displayed surface pores in the mean range of 16-30 nm, while in the latter pores varied from to 65 to 89 nm. The samples were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis prior to being tested with pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. In vitro cell response was studied in terms of early cell adhesion, viability, and morphology, including focal adhesion quantification. Both the alumina samples promoted higher cell adhesion and viability than the control condition represented by the standard culture dish plastic. Osteogenic differentiation was assessed through alkaline phosphatase activity and extracellular calcium deposition, and it was found that of the two nano-surfaces, one was more efficient than the other. By comparing for the first time two nano-porous alumina surfaces with different pore diameters, our data supported the role of nano-topography in inducing cell response. Modulating a simple aspect of surface texture may become an attractive route for guiding bone healing and regeneration around implantable metals.

Shape-Memory Polymers in Dentistry: Systematic Review and Patent Landscape Report.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review (SR) of existing literature and a patent landscape report (PLR) regarding the potential applications of shape-memory polymers (SMPs) in dentistry. SEARCH STRATEGY: Clinical and Biomedical online databases (Pubmed, Medline via Embase, Scopus, LILACS, Web of Science, Cochrane Library), Materials Science and Engineering databases (IEEE Explore, Compendex, Proquest), Material Science and Chemical database (Reaxys) so as Patents databases (Questel-Orbit, Espacenet, Patentscope) were consulted as recently as January 2019 to identify all papers and patents potentially relevant to the review. The reference lists of all eligible studies were hand searched for additional published work. RESULTS: After duplicate selection and extraction procedures, 6 relevant full-text articles from the initial 302 and 45 relevant patents from 497 were selected. A modified Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist of 14 items for reporting pre-clinical in-vitro studies was used to rate the methodological quality of the selected papers. The overall quality was judged low. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the great potential and versatility of SMPs, it was not possible to draw evidence-based conclusions supporting their immediate employment in clinical dentistry. This was due to the weak design and a limited number of studies included within this review and reflects the fact that additional research is mandatory to determine whether or not the use of SMPs in dentistry could be effective. Nevertheless, the qualitative analysis of selected papers and patents indicate that SMPs are promising materials in dentistry because of their programmable physical properties. These findings suggest the importance of furtherly pursuing this line of research.