Publication Trends Studies Involving Disabled Persons with Dental Care Needs: A 20-Year Bibliometric Analysis

Objective: To evaluate scientific production on disabled persons with dental care needs over a 20-year period.Material and Methods: The search was conducted in the PubMed database using the MeSH terms "Disabled Persons" AND "Dentistry". Three researchers selected articles based on readings of the title, abstract and full text. The articles were categorized according to periodical, country, study design, subject and classification of comorbidities and associated disorders. Three hundred ninety-seven articles published in 140 periodicals were included.Results: The periodicals Special Care in Dentistry (54), Dental Clinics of North America (14) and British Dental Journal (14) accounted for 21% of the publications. The studies were conducted in 50 countries, with the United States accounting for 33%. More than half (52%) of the studies had a cross-sectional design. The main subject addressed was oral diagnosis and most of the comorbidities were generalized disabilities.Conclusion: Although a large number of the periodicals have contributed to knowledge building on disabled persons with dental care needs, the number of articles is small compared to other fields of dentistry. Moreover, important gaps in knowledge persist and projects with better methodological designs are needed to offer a more substantial contribution to clinical practice.