Objective: To characterize and describe the bibliometric profile of publications about third-molar as a model for study of maxillofacial surgery in the last decade.

Method: Descriptive study. A search was made on reference database ISI-Web of Knowledge, time-span 2000–2010, including items whose title had the word “third-molar”.

Results: A total of 560 publications. Trend shows an increase in the number of items, 34 (6.07%) in 2000 to 84 in 2010 (15.0%). Countries with more publications are United States (23.03%), England (7.67%) and Spain (7.14%). The author who has published most is White, R.P. (27 items, 4.8%), followed by Phillips, C. (19 items, 3.39%) and Dodson, T.B. (17 items, 3.3%). The most cited papers in the last decade are Valmaseda-Castellón et al. (50 references) followed by Bataineh A.B. (42 citations) and Blaeser B.F. et al. (37 citations).

Brazil dominates Latin American region (27 articles, 69.2%) followed by Chile (6 articles, 15.3%) and Mexico (3 articles, 7.6%). In Chile the most cited article is “Third Molar Agenesis in Native Ethnies from North of Chile: Atacama you or Lican Antai” of Garcia-Hernandez F. and V. Beltran with 4 cites.

Conclusion: There is a growth trend in the use of third-molar as a model to study prevalence, methods of diagnosis and treatment in maxillofacial surgery. We recommend the use of this model given the scientific interest shown in the number of publications and citations registered in the last decade.

Conflict of interest : None declared.