Intervals for oral health examinations among Finnish children and adolescents: recommendations for the future.

AIM

To review the frequency of routine annual dental examinations for children in Finland and to make recommendations for appropriate examination intervals for children and adolescents.

METHOD

The National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health in Finland appointed an expert group to prepare a review.

RESULTS

According to the literature, examination intervals for individuals with low caries risk can be extended to 1.5-2.0 years without jeopardising their oral health. If implemented, this would lead to a saving of 15% in treatment and examination times for children. Although there is no accurate measure for identifying high-risk individuals, a considerable proportion of low-risk children can be identified fairly accurately.

CONCLUSIONS

The expert group recommended prolonging the average examination intervals to 1.5-2.0 years, taking into account the risk of each individual, the local distribution of oral health problems and cost-effective use of resources. Part of the savings could be redirected to children with high levels of dental need and/or at risk of dropping out from the oral health services.