Status of Innovations in Global Dentistry Over 150 Years Using Patent Landscaping Analysis

Abstract

Doing something new which results in the improvement of a product, procedure, or service is termed Innovation. In dentistry, different kinds of innovations have been protected under patent laws on a global scale. The main objective of this study is to provide an analysis of the patenting activities and recent patenting trends in the field of dentistry worldwide. In this study, the information regarding patents and patent applications related to dentistry was retrieved and analyzed by an online tool from the website www.lens.org . The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) with A61C code which denotes dental-related patents was chosen for this particular study. In the present study, we have analyzed and scrutinized worldwide data on patents in relation to dentistry from the year 1873 to 2023 which provides an analytic depiction of the dental patent landscape of over 150 years. According to the analysis, 69 granted patents were recorded in 1873 and gradually it increased with time. The maximum number of granted patents related to dentistry was recorded in the year 2021 (8749 patents). According to our study, A61Q11/00 code is the topmost trend in the field of dental inventions which denotes oral care products like toothpaste, mouth rinses, etc. According to this study, the majority of the patent applicants and patent owners were from various companies across the globe as compared to individual inventors or institutions, or universities. Among the top ten owners of dental patents, only one university has been able to be on that list.