How often do you really need a dental check-up?
Every six months is the number everyone knows. It has surprisingly little evidence behind it, and for many adults it is more often than necessary.
Principal Dentist & Clinical Director
The six-month check-up is one of the most widely known health recommendations in the world. It is also, as far as anyone can tell, the result of a 1950s advertising campaign rather than any clinical trial.
That does not make it wrong. It makes it arbitrary — and arbitrary means it is right for some people and not others.
What should determine the interval
- Your decay rate over the last few years, which is the single best predictor of the next few
- Whether you have active or previously treated gum disease
- How heavily restored your mouth already is — more restorations means more margins that can fail
- Diet, particularly the frequency rather than the quantity of sugar
- Smoking, which raises risk substantially and hides bleeding that would otherwise warn you
- Dry mouth, whether from medication or a medical condition
- How effective your cleaning at home actually is, which we can see rather than guess
What that means in practice
A low-risk adult — healthy gums, no new decay in five years, few fillings, good hygiene — can reasonably be seen every twelve to eighteen months, and the evidence supports that.
A higher-risk patient with active gum disease, several new cavities in recent years or a heavily restored mouth should be seen every three to six months, and being told otherwise would be doing them a disservice.
Your recall interval should also change over time. It is a clinical judgement, not a subscription.
This article is general information written by a clinician at Dental. It is not a diagnosis and it does not replace an examination. Dental conditions that look similar can have entirely different causes — if something is worrying you, book an appointment. Read our full medical disclaimer.