Historical and bibliometric notes on the use of fluoride in caries prevention

AIM: The aim of the present report was to highlight historical and bibliometric aspects of fluoride in dentistry. METHODS: Study design: In the first part of the manuscript, history of fluoride has been reported. In the second part, some bibliometric considerations have been explained. The historical research evaluated the first documents about fluoride in dentistry. The bibliometric research considered Scopus-indexed documents from 1945 to 2019. RESULTS: Historical search showed the consistent presence of documents since 1803, even if modern research started in the 1930s. STATISTICS: Descriptive statistics of documents about fluoride showed a constantly increasing interest on the topic, starting from 1965 to nowadays. CONCLUSIONS: The topic of fluoride has a long history in dental practice, and future interesting research is needed in order to combine this well-known inorganic, monatomic anion with new emerging technologies.