The regular dental check-up – why every six months?

Although dentists in many developed countries recommend check-ups at six-month intervals, there are no high quality data to support this recommendation.

Dental health is an important part of a person’s overall health, and catching problems early can make treatment much easier to perform. The oral health of the population in many countries has improved dramatically over the last three decades. This fact, coupled with the cost of check-ups and the scarcity of dentists, means that it is appropriate to ask how often a person should be seen.

Reviewing the best available data led the Cochrane Authors to conclude that there is not enough evidence to draw any conclusions regarding the potential effects, good or bad, of altering the recall interval between dental check-ups.

“There is insufficient evidence to support or refute the practice of encouraging patients to attend for dental check-ups at six-monthly intervals,” says the review’s lead author Dr Paul Beirne, of the University Dental School and Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland.

The authors say that their work highlights the need for further research into this issue.

Media Contact

Julia Lampam alfa

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors