Debate over frequency of dental appointments

Dental check-ups may not be necessary every six months, despite this being recommended by dentists, new research has found.

Dr Paul Beirne of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College Cork (UCC) has found that there is no good quality, reliable evidence to inform healthcare decisions regarding the frequency with which patients should attend for dental check-ups.

Dr Beirne and a team of reviewers from the Cochrane Oral Health Group in Manchester carried out a worldwide review of the literature on the frequency with which people should see their dentist for check-ups.

However, they found insufficient evidence to support or refute the common practice of encouraging patients to attend for dental check-ups at six monthly intervals.

Dr Beirne told the college magazine, UCC News, that debates over the optimal frequency for dental check-ups and the potential effects on oral health of altering recall intervals between check-ups, had been ongoing for almost three decades.

"Although recommendations regarding optimal recall intervals vary between countries and dental healthcare systems, six-monthly check-ups have traditionally been advocated by general dental practitioners in many developed countries," he explained.

Following the publication of the review, the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme in the UK is commissioning research to compare the effects of dental check-ups at six monthly intervals, 24-monthly intervals and at intervals based on patients' risks from oral disease.

Dr Beirne undertakes systematic reviews of the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. He has been actively involved in the work of the Cochrane Collaboration and has taught a number of systematic review training courses in Ireland in conjunction with staff from the UK Cochrane Centre.

The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organisation, which it says is dedicated to making up-to-date accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available around the world.

It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for the best available and most reliable evidence on the effects of such interventions.

The Health Research Board in Dublin has negotiated free all-Ireland access to the Cochrane Library.