Abstract

Last year we questioned the value of routine six-monthly checks for dental disease,¹ concluding that ‘routine six-monthly screening is not needed either for caries or periodontal disease’, and that ‘an annual visit to the dentist should suffice’. The article aroused much controversy especially among dentists. We thought the differences in views deserved more precise analysis to clarify the source of the debate and therefore invited dental experts to a discussion meeting. The following points summarise the issues and put them into a wider context than did last year’s article.