Scientometric Analysis on the Application of Chlorhexidine Chips in Periodontics and Oral Implantology

To perform a scientometric analysis to map and characterize the scientific production on chlorhexidine locally delivered devices, particularly chlorhexidine chips, in periodontics and oral implantology from 2015 to 2025.

A descriptive bibliometric study of scientific publications indexed in Scopus was conducted according to the RAMIBS framework to enhance transparency and reproducibility. A structured search strategy was developed using terms relating to chlorhexidine chips and other local delivery devices. Bibliographic metadata were exported in comma separated value (CSV) format and analyzed using standard bibliometric techniques to map scientific productivity and collaboration and explore keyword co-occurrence networks and themes over time.

On December 2, 2025, overall 33 documents published in 26 sources are identified with -14.8% of annual growth and high citation impact (30.9 citations/article). The research landscape was characterized by collaborative authorship structure with 188 unique authors and 18.1% of publications are international collaborations. Highly cited, high-impact publications were produced by institutions with a strong track record of academic visibility, including authors from Harvard University, Columbia University and Madrid's Complutense University. Core publishing venues included the Journal of Clinical Periodontology (CiteScore 12.2) and Journal of Periodontology (CiteScore 9.4) which emerged as the leading sources. Thematic keyword co-occurrence analysis identified chlorhexidine as the central thematic axis.

This scientometric analysis shows that research on chlorhexidine devices for local delivery, in particular, chlorhexidine chips from 2015 to 2025 is fairly scarce but consolidated with a declining trend in publications, showing high impact, and with a stable thematic focus on periodontal and peri-implant outcomes.

These findings indicate that research on dedicated chlorhexidine local delivery devices represents a mature field with a stable level of productivity, stability in collaborators and citation impact. This thematic structure highlights the importance of chlorhexidine in an interdisciplinary research area covering periodontal treatment, biomaterials, and drug delivery.