Evaluation of Postgraduate Theses on Toothpastes in the Field of Dentistry in Türkiye

ABSTRACT Objectives In postgraduate programs in dentistry, it is mandatory to prepare and present a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation. These theses require conducting original research on a specific topic, collecting and analyzing data using scientific methods, and then presenting the findings in an academic format. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively evaluate graduate theses in the field of dentistry related to toothpaste. Material and Methods A thesis search was conducted using the keyword “toothpaste” in the National Thesis Database of the Council of Higher Education (YOK) in Turkey. As a result of the search, 61 publicly accessible theses related to toothpaste in the field of dentistry were included in the study. The theses were evaluated using document and content analysis methods based on the year of the thesis, number of pages, type, the dental sub-specialty in which the thesis was conducted, the geographical region of the university, and the language of publication. Additionally, the topics and methods of the theses were categorized and examined. Descriptive statistical methods were used to evaluate the obtained data, and the nonparametric chi-square goodness-of-fit test was employed to assess the distributions of categorical variables. Results The majority of the theses examined were master’s theses (60.66%), and most were completed at public universities (96.72%). A significant portion of the theses was conducted in the Department of Restorative Dentistry (55.73%). In terms of topic distribution, studies on the effects of restorative materials (41%) accounted for the highest proportion, followed by remineralization/demineralization (16.4%) and whitening toothpastes (13.1%). In terms of methodology, it was determined that the vast majority of the theses were in vitro studies (73.8%). Statistically significant differences were observed in the distribution of categorical variables (P < 0.001). Conclusion It was observed that toothpaste has been the subject of theses in various branches of dentistry and has been extensively studied. It is anticipated that in the coming years, additional thesis studies on toothpaste—one of the most commonly used oral care products—will be conducted by various branches of dentistry.