Oral and maxillofacial surgery research hotspots and emerging trends in 2025: A targeted bibliometric analysis

Objectives: To perform a targeted bibliometric analysis of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) literature from 2025 to map its current intellectual structure, identify established research hotspots, and detect nascent emerging trends. Methods: This cross-sectional bibliometric analysis extracted bibliographic data for ten predefined OMFS topics from the PubMed database for the year 2025. A multi-metric approach was employed using the bibliometrix R-package and VOSviewer. Analyses included descriptive statistics, co-occurrence network analysis of keywords, and calculation of betweenness centrality to identify connective themes. A five-year (2021-2025) longitudinal analysis contextualized growth rates for each topic. Results: The analysis included 17,492 articles across 928 journals. Betweenness centrality analysis revealed high-impact emerging trends centered on a digital revolution, signified by keywords like “virtual surgical planning” (btw: 442.713) and “artificial intelligence” (btw: 308.832). Concurrently, a paradigm shift toward personalized, value-based care was indicated by the prominence of “patient reported outcome measures” (btw: 495.788) and “quality of life” (btw: 644.744). Alarming trends in antimicrobial resistance (“anti-bacterial agents”, btw: 2,099,121) and pharmacovigilance (e.g., MRONJ, 523.17% growth) were also identified. Conclusions: The OMFS research landscape in 2025 is undergoing a dual transition: a technological transition driven by digitalization and AI, and a paradigmatic shift toward an integrated, personalized, and patient-centric model of care, alongside pressing challenges in antibiotic resistance.