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 chil dren in Finland and to make recommendations for appropriate examination int ervals for children and adolescents. Method: The National Research and Deve lopment Centre for Welfare and Health in Finland appointed an expert group to prepare a review. Results: According to the literature, examination inte rvals 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 consi derable proportion of low-risk children can be identified fairly accurately . Conclusions: The expert group recommended prolonging the average examinat ion intervals to 1.5-2.0 years, taking into account the risk of each indivi dual, the local distribution of oral health problems and cost-effective use of resources. Part of the savings could be redirected to children with hig h levels of dental need and/or at risk of dropping out from the oral health services.