A method for maintenance checking of a dental handpiece is disclosed. The method comprises measuring in advance no-load current values of a drive motor, with a handpiece known as being in usable condition and a handpiece known as insufficiently maintained respectively connected thereto and operated in no-load condition, storing as reference data the no-load current values of the drive motor together with associated data relating to degree of maintenance, measuring a no-load current value of the drive motor with a dental handpiece to be checked connected thereto and operated in no-load condition, and determining whether the handpiece checked is usable, requires maintenance, or is unusable, by comparing the measured no-load current value with the reference data.