Objective: This quali-quantitative study analysed the 100 most-cited papers in core dental public health (DPH) journals focusing on understanding international knowledge production. Methods: The DPH journals were selected from titles and scopes at Web of Science Core Collection database up to March 2020. Further comparisons were performed at Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Some bibliometric parameters were extracted as follows: title, number of citations, citation density (number of citations per year), first author's country, year of publication, study design and subject. VOSviewer software was used to create graphical bibliometric maps. Results: Papers were ranked by the total number of citations, which ranged from 104 to 1,019, and six papers were cited more than 400 times. Papers were published from 1974 to 2013, mainly in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. Most frequent study designs were cross-sectional (30%) and nonsystematic review (25%). Most papers were from Europe (54%) and North America (31%). First authors were predominantly from the United Kingdom (17%), United States of America (17%) and Canada (14%). VOSviewer map of co-authorship demonstrated the existence of clusters in the research collaboration. Although epidemiology was the most frequent subject (84%), health services research presented eight times higher citation density. Conclusions: Top 100 most-cited papers in core DPH journals were predominantly observational studies from Anglo-Saxon countries. Top 100 most-cited papers in core DPH journals tend to be cross-sectional studies carried out in the United States with highest citation in health services research. Locker D, Petersen PE and Sheiham A are a landmark for DPH field. K E Y W O R D S bibliometric analysis, bibliometrics, citation index, dental public health, public health | 41 MATTOS eT Al. MATTOS eT Al. milestones for oral health in the world. Those citations pictured that dental public health investigations spread along time and beyond geographic barriers. This study is helpful for journal editors to better understand the relevance of DPH papers in the international scientific scenario. The knowledge of topics, study designs and authors more frequently cited by peers can help policymakers, clinicians and researchers choose scientific evidence for their decision-making processes.