Review of High Level Endodontic Research in PubMed Index Journals from Iran

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate patents as well as high level researches including systematic reviews/meta-analyses and randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT) published in scientific journals by Iranians endodontic. Materials and Methods: The study started with targeted searches of PubMed as well as World Intellectual Property Organization and United State Patent and Trademark Office. Results: There were 4 filed/granted patents, 2 systematic reviews/meta-analyses and 25 RCTs. Patents were related to endodontic/dental (bio)materials. Performing a topic sorting, 15 RCTs were about vital pulp therapy and 8 about anesthesia and pain. More than 55% of these articles originated from three University of Medical Sciences: Shahid Beheshti (22.2%), Kerman (18.5%) and Mashad (14.8%). Conclusion: Vital pulp therapy was the most important topic amongst endodontic high level evidence articles

Twenty Years of Research on Mineral Trioxide Aggregate:A Scientometric Report

Introduction: Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has been suggested for root-end filling, vital pulp therapy, apical plug, perforations repair, and root canal filling. Since the introduction of MTA in 1993, many studies about this material have been published. The aim of this survey was to illustrate statistical information about published articles in PubMed-index journals vis-à-vis the various aspects of this biomaterial. Material and Methods: A PubMed search was performed to retrieve the relative articles from 1993 to August 2012. The data of each article including publication year, journal name, number of authors, first author name, affiliations and study design were recorded. Citation of each article till 2009 was obtained from Scopus and Google scholar databases. Data were analyzed to determine the related scientometric indicators. Results: In total, 1027 articles were found in PubMed-indexed journals which show considerable increase from 2 papers in 1993 to 139 in 2011. While ~62% of articles had no level of evidence, only ~5% could be classified as having the highest level of evidence (LOE1); however, the majority of LOE1 articles originated from Iran (~1%: n=10). Journal of Endodontics, as the top rank journal, published 31.7% of MTA related articles. The majority of articles were four-authored (19.6%). Most of the articles originated from USA (21.9%), Brazil (18.5%) and Iran (8.76%). The average number of citation for the top ten articles from Scopus was 231. Conclusion: This data demonstrates that during the past two decades, research on this novel endodontic biomaterial had a rapid positive trend especially during the last 5 years. Further high-level evidence articles for the various clinical applications of MTA would result in superior clinical decision making and stronger scientific-based endodontic practice

A Scientometric Study of Oral Medicine Articles from Iran Published in PubMed-Indexed Journals

Objectives This study aimed to scientometrically assess the oral medicine articles from Iran published in PubMed-indexed journals.Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the author information section of PubMed database was electronically searched for oral medicine articles published from the beginning of 2006 to the beginning of 2016 with at least one author from Iran using the keywords “oral medicine”, “oral and maxillofacial medicine”, “stomatology”, “stomatologist”, and “Iran”. The results were reported as frequency, and trend analysis was performed.Results A total of 280 oral medicine articles published from the beginning of 2006 to the beginning of 2016 were found to have at least one author from Iran, which comprised 2.9% of the entire articles in this field. The majority of published articles were original articles (77%) followed by case reports (15%), review articles (5%), short communications (2%) and letter to editors (1%). The majority of articles had been published in J Dent Res Dent Clin Dent Prospects (18%), followed by J Dent (Tehran) (6.7%), and J Contemp Dent Pract (5.5%). The trend of publication of articles was ascending during this time period except for the year 2011. The frequency of articles had a significantly ascending trend during the aforementioned time period (P=0.004).Conclusion From the beginning of 2006 to the beginning of 2016, Iran’s share of oral medicine articles published in PubMed-indexed journals was around 3% and had an ascending tren

Mineral Trioxide Aggregate vs. Calcium Hydroxide in Primary Molar Pulpotomy: A Systematic Review

Introduction: The aim of this quantitative systematic review/meta-analysis was to compare the treatment outcomes of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and calcium hydroxide (CH) in pulpotomy of human primary molars. The focused PICO question was “in case of pulp exposure in vital primary molars, how does MTA pulpotomy compare to CH in terms of clinical/radiographic success?” Methods and Materials: We retrieved published randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of at least 6-month duration; our search included articles published up to March 2013 in five following databases: PubMed (Medline), Cochrane database of systematic reviews, Science Citation Index, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. Mantel Haenszel and Inverse Variance-weighted methods were applied by STATA; the relative risk (RR) was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: A total of 282 English articles were collected. Two authors independently screened the articles and five RCTs were selected; data extraction and quality assessment were then carried out. Four RCTs were appropriate for meta-analysis according to their follow-up times by Mantel Haenszel method. Statistically significant difference was found between success rate of MTA compared to CH, with RR=0.08 (95% CI, 0.02-0.39), RR=0.19 (95% CI, 0.08-0.46), and RR=0.38 (95% CI, 0.21-0.68) for 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-ups, respectively. A significant difference was also observed for all included RCTs after analyses using the Inverse Variance-weighted method (RR=0.44; 95% CI, 0.27-0.72). Conclusions: Systematic review/meta-analysis of included RCTs revealed that for pulpotomy of vital primary molars, MTA has better treatment outcomes compared to CH

A Scoping Review of Highly Cited Published Articles in the Iranian Endodontic Journal: A Reflection of Trends in Endodontic Research

Introduction: Highly cited published articles play a critical role in shaping clinical practice, research directions, and advancements in a specific field of science. The current comprehensive scoping review aimed to provide an overview of highly cited articles published in the “Iranian Endodontic Journal” (IEJ), based on the IEJ’s H-index (=29); highlighting their key findings and prominent implications in the field of endodontics. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted in Scopus database to identify the top 29 highly cited published articles. The articles were selected based on their citation count (h-index); reflecting their impact and influence within the scientific community. Data extraction was performed to gather relevant information; including authors, titles, publication years, and the main topic(s) of each article. Results: The selected highly cited published articles covered a broad range of endodontic topics; demonstrating the diversity and depth of research in the field. Key findings include significant contributions in vital pulp therapy, antimicrobial agents, root canal disinfection, regenerative techniques, cone-beam computed tomography applications, and intracanal medicaments. The distribution of research areas reflects the importance of evidence-based practice in clinical decision-making and patient care. Conclusions: These highly cited published articles have shown to have substantial impact on the field of endodontics. They have influenced clinical practice, guided research directions, and have improved patient care. The summary of key findings from each topic and the number of articles related to each area can provide readers with valuable insights into the distribution of research areas, and the significance of contributions made by the aforementioned highly cited published articles