A 2020 Cochrane review that assessed the two clinical trials concluded that “whether adults see their dentist for a check‐up every six months or at personalized intervals based on their dentist’s assessment of their risk of dental disease does not affect tooth decay, gum disease, or quality of life. Longer intervals (up to 24 months) between check‐ups may not negatively affect these outcomes.” The Cochrane reviewers reported that they were “confident” of little to no difference between six-month and risk-based check-ups and were “moderately confident” that going up to 24-month checkups would make little to no difference either.
Likewise, Nadanovsky and his colleagues highlight that there is no evidence supporting the benefit of common scaling and polishing treatments for adults without periodontitis. And for children, cavities in baby teeth are routinely filled, despite evidence from a randomized controlled trial that rates of pain and infections are similar—about 40 percent—whether the cavities are filled or not.
Some dentists can be very proactive. Mine ID’d 2 small cavities but said if I focus on those areas they will probably not grow and be fine.
My wife’s childhood dentist gave her more than a dozen fillings for small cavities. If you ever get a dentist like that, I’d suggest to get a second opinion.
Don’t fuck around with your mouth health: dentures are not fun and infections there can be lethal. But another check-up won’t hurt if you think something’s off.