A Bibliometric Study of Cariology to Identify Methodologies and Therapeutics to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier

Abstract

Gregory K Tharp

Background The management of dental caries has to evolve in tandem with drug delivery systems and new evidence on the blood- brain barrier phenomenon. While the conventional local anesthesia administration approach for management of dental caries is a syringe approach, that approach may not be appropriate for the millions of people with dental caries worldwide across the lifespan and for that reasons, dentists look to novel drug delivery approaches to bypass the blood- brain barrier to make caries management more palatable.

Types of Studies Reviewed Various literature studies as well as a search of the Pubmed, Google Scholar, MESH, and Clinicialtrials.gov website and databases were conducted to gauge the current and future state of research on local anesthetics usage in cariology and the blood-brain barrier.

Results A lack of clinical studies and existing journal articles specifically addressing local anesthetics and cariology leaves the general dentist with no guidance on what the current state of thinking is on local anesthetics used to safely cross the blood brain barrier in the management of dental caries.

Practical Implications Hopefully this bibliometric study introduces the practicing dentist to ways to bypass the blood-brain barrier while serving as a springboard for additional studies and advocacy both within and outside of the dental profession on cariology and drug delivery approaches.

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