President Donald Trump will undergo a “routine annual dental and medical assessment” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday, according to the White House, as the administration frames the visit as part of his ongoing preventive care.
The appointment comes about seven months after Trump’s last visit to Walter Reed, and the frequency of the medical attention has fueled renewed public scrutiny as Trump, the oldest president to take the oath of office, approaches his 80th birthday in June. Concerns have included observations tied to his age and visible changes during public appearances, including swollen ankles and bruises that have appeared on his hands.
The White House described the Tuesday visit as “part of his regular preventive health care,” and the assessment is expected to include both dental and medical components. While routine annual exams are common for people in their eighties, NPR reported that the underlying issue for critics is not whether older adults receive regular checkups, but the gaps between broad disclosures and the specific details the public cannot verify.
Trump’s recent medical timeline includes annual physical disclosures and follow-ups at Walter Reed, with one earlier Walter Reed visit described as a “scheduled follow-up” in October and another assessment discussed by the White House after additional imaging. After he returned to Walter Reed for what the administration described as scheduled follow-up, the White House later disclosed that Trump received a CT scan to assess his “cardiovascular and abdominal health,” and his physician Capt. Sean Barbabella said at the time that Trump “remains in excellent overall health.”
In the months since, Trump has also addressed questions about bruising, telling the Wall Street Journal that he regretted getting the October CT scan because of the speculation that followed and attributing the bruising on his hand to taking too much aspirin. The administration has defended Trump’s physical vitality by pointing to his continued schedule and engagement with White House physicians, and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung has posted repeatedly about Trump’s work pace on X.
Health officials and cabinet members have also discussed Trump’s health publicly. During a podcast interview in January, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz reviewed Trump’s medical records and found he has “the highest testosterone level that he’s ever seen for an individual over 70 years old,” a claim that the administration has used to bolster its overall portrayal of Trump’s condition.
NPR reported that Trump has released selected medical information while also limiting access to detailed records, including a disclosure last summer of chronic venous insufficiency. The White House said in a memo then that despite the diagnosis, Trump’s cardiovascular health remained “excellent,” and NPR said an April 2025 medical report is the last detailed and public report on Trump’s health.
That April 2025 report described a few “abnormalities,” according to Barbabella. NPR reported those included “scarring on the right ear” from the gunshot wound sustained during the Butler Pennsylvania assassination attempt and “diverticulosis and a benign polyp” revealed during a colonoscopy in July. The physician recommended a “follow-up colonoscopy in three years,” and NPR reported that the report also said Trump weighed 224 pounds and that his LDL, described as “bad” cholesterol, was in an “optimal” range and lower than in 2020.
An outside cardiology perspective added to the focus on what disclosures can and cannot show. Dr. Byron Lee, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford, told NPR that it is “very common to get annual physicals when you get to his age,” and he said that in general terms older patients can remain active and do well even as risks for heart attacks and strokes increase.
Lee, however, said the lack of access to Trump’s detailed medical history limited what he could assess. He singled out aspirin as an area where he would want more information, telling NPR that it is “actually interesting he is on [aspirin],” because doctors often do not routinely recommend it “unless you have risk factors for stroke or heart disease,” and he added that aspirin “definitely does cause bruising.” He also said the presence of swelling in Trump’s legs, coupled with the White House’s stated reason of chronic venous insufficiency, is a reason for further investigation and testing, noting that while chronic venous insufficiency “in itself is not that dangerous,” it “could be a sign of other things going on.”
More than anything, Lee said he hopes Trump continues to lose weight and remain active, describing those as factors that can reduce heart-disease risk. The Stanford doctor also said that for patients of a similar age and weight, doctors increasingly prescribe GLP-1s such as Ozempic, while emphasizing that he was speaking without knowing the specifics of Trump’s medical records that would determine whether such treatment is appropriate.