ABSTRACT
Objective: To identify the types of animals commonly used in experimental research in dentistry in Brazil. Material and Methods: 2721 studies were evaluated, of which 379 (13.9 %) involved animals. The variables analyzed were: area of knowledge, type of study, type of animal, number of animals, occurrence of sacrifice, body part used and financing. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using the chi-square test (p < 0.05) with the SPSS 18.0 software. Results: Research in Dental Materials (38.8 %), Surgery, Dental Anesthesiology and Implantology (25.6 %) were those that most used animals. Most studies were in vivo (60.2 %), using rats (82.7 %) and average of 44.3 animals per study. Most animals were sacrificed during or at the end of the experiment (61.8 %) and the most used body part was the teeth (44.2%), especially bovine. Conclusion: Areas of Dental Materials and Surgery, Anesthesiology and Implantology are those that most used animals in studies, with predominance of rodents, being usually sacrificed during or at the end of the experiment...