Thermography in dentistry: a bibliometric review / Termografia em odontologia: uma revisão bibliométrica

Infrared thermography is an imaging exam present in the scope of diagnosis, evolutionary monitoring, and prognosis in the health area. Over the years, thermography has been studied in medicine, and it is a technique recently used in Dentistry. In this sense, the objective of this work was to carry out a literature review with a bibliometric approach to the use of thermal images for the diagnosis/monitoring of dental treatments. Studies that relate thermography to dental specialties were analyzed, considering the use of thermography as a diagnostic aid and monitoring of dental treatments in its wide range of activities. Searches were performed in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Scielo, from 1985 to 2020, with a search phrase including thermography and Dentistry specialties. The results show the trends in publications relating thermographic images to dental specialties by year of publication, journals, country, type of study, manufacturer of cameras used, resolution, and ambient temperature, totaling 119 publications in 83 journals. Temporomandibular Dysfunction and Orofacial Pain was the specialty with the highest concentration of publications relating thermography to Dentistry (27 articles). Endodontics was the second specialty (23 articles), Restorative Dentistry was the third specialty (18 articles) followed by Surgery (17 articles). It can be concluded that thermography is indicated as an auxiliary diagnostic method in Dentistry specialties. The main indications for thermography in Dentistry are in the context of diagnosis of Orofacial Pain (dysfunctions temporomandibular disorders of the muscular and articular types, noninflammatory odontalgias and neuropathies), Endodontics (inflammatory odontalgias), Implantology (osseointegration), and follow-up evolution of the postoperative surgeries