Background Dental and orthodontic researchers frequently produce and reuse copyrighted materials such as clinical photographs, radiographs, CBCT scans, intraoral scans, published articles, and educational resources. Copyright licenses determine how these works may be shared, adapted, or commercialized. Dental professionals employed by government entities face unique copyright ownership rules that vary by jurisdiction. No prior systematic review has synthesized copyright license types and government employee ownership rules specifically for the dental and orthodontic domain. Objective To systematically identify, categorize, and synthesize legal provisions and scholarly commentary on (1) types of copyright licenses relevant to dental and orthodontic research, and (2) copyright ownership rules for government-employed dental professionals across major jurisdictions (United States, Commonwealth countries).Methods A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. This review adopts a doctrinal legal approach, synthesizing statutory provisions, case law, and licensing frameworks as written rather than measuring empirical outcomes. Searches were performed across PubMed, Google Scholar, OpenAlex, BASE, CORE, SSRN, WIPO Lex, and government legal portals. The search period was January 1, 2000 to January 31, 2026. Eligibility criteria included peer-reviewed articles, statutes, case law, and official license texts relevant to dental and orthodontic research outputs. Data extraction focused on license characteristics and government employee ownership rules. Synthesis was narrative.Results From 1,022 records identified, 1,247 unique records were screened after duplicate removal and reference list addition. A total of 444 full-text articles were assessed, and 62 sources met inclusion criteria, of which 18 specifically addressed dental or orthodontic copyright scenarios. Six Creative Commons licenses were consistently identified. These licenses form a functional spectrum from maximal openness to maximal restriction, with dental applications clustering toward non-commercial variants in educational contexts. For dental images, copyright ownership generally vests in the creator or employer, provided the work meets minimal originality thresholds. Free and open-source software licenses apply to orthodontic treatment planning software. For government-employed dentists: U.S. federal dentists produce public domain works; state-employed dental school faculty generally retain copyright unless state statute or institutional policy says otherwise; Commonwealth countries apply Crown copyright, with most government dental health publications released under Open Government Licences.Conclusions This systematic review provides the first domain-specific legal synthesis tailored to dentistry. Dental researchers must understand copyright licenses to legally reuse clinical images, publish open access, and share educational materials. Key gaps identified include empirical data on compliance and comparative analyses of non-English jurisdictions. This review does not constitute legal advice; jurisdiction-specific consultation is recommended.