The 100 most cited articles on malocclusion's biopsychosocial impact in school-aged youth: bibliometric study.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the characteristics of the 100 most-cited papers on the biopsychosocial impact of malocclusion in school-aged youth. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection (WoS-CC) database was searched. Data extracted included title of the paper, year of publication, authorship, number of citations, institution, country, continent, study design, journal and its impact factor, and keywords. A content analysis was performed to extract information on malocclusion diagnosis indices, age group, sample size, biopsychosocial outcomes, and assessment instruments. Bibliometric networks were created using VOSviewer and Power BI software. Descriptive analyses and Poisson regression were conducted (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The 100 most-cited articles were selected from the 1,297 studies, totaling 3,621 citations. Most of the studies were cross-sectional (n=89), with a majority originating from Brazil (n=54). The Angle Orthodontist and the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics stood out with the highest number of publications and citations (11 articles, 532 and 461 citations, respectively). The authors with the most citations was C.A. Feldens, being the most cited author (n = 256). "Malocclusion" was the most used keyword (n = 39). The most prolific institutions were Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (12 articles), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (11 articles), and Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (8 articles). CONCLUSION: Cross-sectional studies conducted by Brazilian authors examining the impact of malocclusion on oral health-related quality of life predominated. More diverse study designs, broader geographic representation, and longitudinal approaches are necessary to strengthen the evidence on the biopsychosocial effects of malocclusion.