Bibliometric Analysis of Maxillary Expansion Publications Trends

Maxillary expansion is a common treatment in clinical orthodontics and can be performed in a wide age range using different methods. This bibliometric analysis aims to provide an overview of research on maxillary expansion.

A literature search was performed in the Web of Science database, and publications related to maxillary expansion between 1970 and 2023 were included. Data, including titles, abstracts, keywords, countries, regions, and references, were exported and analyzed within the scope of the bibliometric indicators.

The study was conducted on 2633 publications. Between 1970 and 2023, research on maxillary expansion showed a general upward trend in the number of publications. From the analyzed publications, we observed that rapid maxillary expansion (RME) was the most common type of maxillary expansion, accounting for 78% of all publications. Most publications originated from the United States (24.3%), and these articles were also the most cited (17180). Lorenzo Franchi contributed the most publications (85, 3.2%) and was cited 2830 times for maxillary expansion. The highest number of publications was from the University of Sao Paolo (119), and the most cited institution was the University of Florence (3287).

The bibliometric indicators showed a rapid increase in the number of published works on the topic of maxillary expansion, particularly in recent years. Advances in patient evaluation (3D imaging, modeling) and application methods (mini-screws, clear aligners) appear to have helped to maintain the popularity of maxillary expansion. We also observed that maxillary expansion is associated with several other specialties in addition to dentistry.