REVIEW OF DENTAL MATERIALS CITATIONS .A. JANUARY TO JUNE 1995

Objective: Electronic databases are an excellent resource for identify ing relevant references for research and education projects. However, these databases are not yet a substitute for direct inspection of the literature because: (a) there still is a lag of many months between jo urnal issue publication and updates of the database, and (b) most data bases selectively report a portion of the entire literature. The objec tive was to identify and categorize all the dental materials citations in biomedical journals that were published from January 1995 through June 1995. Methods: Seventeen primary and 56 secondary dental journals were manually searched via their tables of contents to detect dental materials publications from January to June of 1995. Denial materials citations were categorized into 17 major sections and further divided into several subsections. The review excluded case reports and literat ure primarily related to dental implants or biomedical materials outsi de of dentistry. Results: Three hundred-sixty-nine citations were iden tified. The greatest number of citations were associated with dentin b onding, composites, and glass ionomers. There was no significant incre ase in dental materials publications vs. the number reported for 1994. Significance: This list provides a comprehensive source for review by academicians and researchers to bridge the gap between initial public ation and electronic citation.