Oral Health after Childbirth: A Bibliometric Exploration of Global Scientific Production

Aim: To analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the world scientific production on oral health in the puerperium Materials and methods: The descriptive study with a bibliometric approach, which had as sample 146 original articles on oral health during puerperium indexed in Scopus. Metadata were used to create co-authorship and co-occurrence networks with VOSviewer and to estimate bibliometric indicators with SciVal. Results: Universidade Federal do Maranhão and Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana are among the most productive institutions, although the National University of Singapore has the highest average number of citations per publication. Gomes-Filho Isaac Suzart and Alves Cláudia Maria Coêlho, both from Brazil, lead this field of research with eight and six publications, respectively. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is the best positioned, although the Maternal and Child Health Journal has the best impact. Brazil and the United States are the countries with the highest concentration of publications and, at the same time, have a strong cooperation link. The main type of collaboration in scientific production is national (45.9%). Conclusion: The scientific production on oral health in the puerperium shows a growing trend and is published especially in Q1 and Q2 quartile journals. There are emerging collaborative networks, with the United States and Brazil as the most representative countries, although international collaboration is still a pending task. Clinical significance: The puerperium period is an important challenge for the care of oral health-related problems, given the physiological and anatomical changes produced previously in pregnancy.