Six-month recall dental appointments, for all children, are (un)justifiable

Abstract

Each child is an individual with specific needs, which necessitates a different plan of management based on the type of oral disease or disability present. This raises a question as to whether the customary fixed sixmonth recall visits for children commonly advocated by dental professionals need to be altered/adjusted so as to reflect the individual's oral health needs more closely, in order to optimize their clinical and costeffectiveness. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the evidence to either justify or refute the sixmonth recall dental appointments for all children. Based on the available evidence, we conclude that the judgment about appropriate intervals should be made by the dental practitioner on an individual risk basis as insufficient evidence exists to either justify, or refute the six-month recall dental appointments.