Finite Element in Dentistry: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Background: Finite element analysis (FEA) has become a cornerstone of dental biomechanics, supporting the simulation of stress, strain, and displacement in biological structures and biomaterials. Methods: This combined bibliometric and narrative review examines the development, geographic and disciplinary distribution, and methodological state of FEA-based dental research by analysing 3379 publications indexed in Scopus between 1969 and 2024. Results: The dataset shows continued exponential growth in annual output, particularly after 2000, with China, the United States, and India as the leading contributors. Journal articles account for the bulk of the literature, and implant dentistry remains the most prominent focus area. The 100 most-cited works concentrate on implant biomechanics, prosthodontics, and scaffold design, while interdisciplinary contributions linking FEA to regenerative biomaterials, orthodontics, and endodontics are increasing. Conclusions: FEA in dentistry is a mature but still rapidly expanding field. Persistent methodological gaps remain, including the routine use of isotropic and linear-elastic bone, idealised osseointegration, static loading, limited patient-specific variability, and scarce in vivo validation. Future work should converge on patient-specific multiscale models, fatigue and contact-aware formulations, standardised validation pipelines, and the integration of artificial intelligence into both pre-processing (mesh generation, parameter identification) and post-processing (surrogate models, outcome prediction). The wider relevance of FEA across orthopaedic, thoracic, and reconstructive biomechanics confirms its role as a unifying computational tool for clinical translation.