The 100 Most-Cited Original Research Articles on Sedation and General Anesthesia in Pediatric Dentistry: A Bibliometric Analysis

Aim: Sedation and general anesthesia have become indispensable pharmacological behavior guidance techniques in pediatric dentistry, yet the landmark publications that have shaped this field remain uncharacterized. This study aimed to identify and characterize the 100 most-cited original research articles on sedation and general anesthesia in pediatric dentistry. Material and Methods: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. A topic search combining pediatric dentistry and sedation/general anesthesia terms was applied, restricted to original research articles published in English in journals indexed within the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Records were screened by title, abstract, and full text to confirm relevance to sedation and/or general anesthesia in pediatric dental care. The 100 most-cited articles were identified and sorted by total WoS citation count. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Shapiro-Wilk, Spearman correlation, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis tests) were performed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Result: The initial search identified 529 records, from which the 100 most-cited original research articles were selected. These articles accumulated 2,748 total citations (mean 27.48±17.08; range 12-110), and were published between 1984 and 2023 (median 2011). Pediatric Dentistry was the leading source journal (17%), the United States contributed the largest share of highly cited articles (27%), and midazolam-based sedation was the most extensively investigated research topic (27%). Randomized controlled trials constituted the most common study design (33%). Publication year was negatively correlated with total citation count (ρ=-0.325, p=0.001) but positively correlated with citation density (ρ=0.671, p<0.001), and citation density differed significantly across research topics (p=0.025). Conclusion: This is the first citation-ranked bibliometric analysis of the landmark original research shaping sedation and general anesthesia practice in pediatric dentistry. The field has evolved from descriptive clinical reports toward evidence-based, guideline-driven pharmacological behavior management, providing a structured reference for clinicians and researchers.