Yearly Dentist Visits Useless?
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Yearly Dentist Visits Useless?

Posted by isaac on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 9:56am in

Oh sweet vindication. I go to the dentist every couple of years, just never had the desire to go more regularly. And I never ask to see the actual dentist as I trust the technician to spot potential issues. Now I read this article from The New York Times Freakonomics that seems to add even more question to the cleaning of teeth...

It seems that there are only a few studies done to see if regular dentist visits (descaling) actually have any benefit. Of those few studies it appears that most find little if any evidence to support yearly cleanings. It references an article from Nature on Evidence Based Dentistry:


"One study, which involved people attending a recall programme following periodontal treatment, found no statistically significant differences for plaque, gingivitis and attachment loss between experimental and control units at each timepoint during the 1-year trial... There were no studies comparing the effects of scaling and polishing provided by dentists or professionals complementary to dentistry."


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