Recent Trends in Oral Health Technology Patients: A Text Mining Analysis

Abstract

Objectives: This study analyzed technological trends by examining patents related to oral health and dentistry, and discussed patent utilization and research directions. Methods: The patent data (n=6,865) related to oral health and dentistry were collected from KIPRIS on July 31, 2023. The collected data were analyzed by text mining using Python 3.10. Results: Among the keywords (n=37,155) extracted from the invention titles, ‘device’ showed the highest frequency. In the time series frequency analysis, keywords such as ‘recording’, ‘3-dimensional’, ‘scanner’, and ‘image’ were absent from 2003 to 2007. However, the frequency of these keywords has been steadily increasing since 2008. Furthermore, ‘implant’, ‘orthodontics’, and ‘3-dimensional’ demonstrated relatively high influence in the network analysis (Degree centrality) relating to clinical aspects. Conclusion: In this study, the keyword, ‘method’ was the most influential. Technologies related to ‘orthodontics’ and ‘implants’ have also been consistently researched. Since 2008, ‘3-dimensional’ has been increasing in importance. The emergence of new technological terms highlights the increasing importance of digitization and visualization. The oral health and dentistry-related technological trends identified in the study are expected to serve as valuable foundational data for future patent analysis in Korea.