Reinforcement materials for polymethyl methacrylate used in denture base: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Objective: Synthesize the scientific production and the evolution of the materials available for the reinforcement of polymethyl methacrylate used in denture bases. Methods: The search was conducted on the Web of Science database in august 2023, and a bibliometric mapping in the VOSviewer software program was used. Data included from the included articles were title and abstract terms, type of document, number of citations, journal of publication, most cited articles and year of publication were selected for analysis. The variables, corresponding authors country, particle type and size, properties, study type and results were manually included. Results: A total of 410 were selected for analysis. The most productive years were found between 2016 and 2022. 375 in vitro studies (91.46%) and 371 articles testing inorganic particles (90.48%). Most of the properties evaluated were mechanical, 198 studies used nanometer-sized particles (48.29%), followed by 12 studies on micrometer sizes (2.92%). Final considerations: Global increase in the last seven years of research on PMMA reinforcements, especially in vitro studies with inorganic and nano-sized materials demonstrates there is a need to improve PMMA with better mechanical and antimicrobial properties for application as a denture base.