Over the holiday break Shay, one of our amazing dental hygienists, watched a Dr Oz show regarding medical and dental x-rays. Dr Oz said that he would not have dental x-rays done unless he had some sort of dental pain. His reservation is due to the risk of thyroid cancer from the radiation needed to expose dental X-rays. We couldn’t disagree more!
With this recent controversy in the media regarding dental X-rays, we wanted our patients to know our position on the topic and give you some helpful information from reputable publications to aid in your decision in receiving a dental x-ray examination.
Dental X-rays provide valuable information that helps your dentist evaluate and diagnose your oral condition. Many diseases of the teeth and surrounding tissues are not in plain sight. X-rays aid in diagnosis of decay in between your teeth and below existing fillings and crowns, infections in the bone of your jaw, periodontal (gum) disease, abscesses or cysts, developmental abnormalities, and some types of tumors. Finding and treating dental problems at an early stage can save time, money, and possibly decrease the severity of disease.
The concern with dental X-rays is the associated radiation dose. The amount of radiation that we are exposed to from dental x-rays is very small compared to our natural daily exposure from things like cosmic radiation, sun light, a cross country flight, or even cooking with natural gas. The American Dental Association reported in 1995 that an annual full series of dental x-rays (conventional x-rays, not digital x-rays) expose a patient to 0.150 mSv. Average annual radiation in the US from natural sources a person is exposed to is 3.00 mSv. Just for a reference, some medical x-rays, such as lower GI tract radiographs, can emit up to 4.06 mSv of radiation!!
Radiation safety should, and is, always a primary concern in our office. X-rays and radiation exposure should always be kept to a minimum. Although newer dental x-ray units, like ours, have very little scatter radiation (the radiation that gets away from our target), a lead apron is still used to protect other areas of the body from any additional radiation. There is also a continuous strive in dentistry and medicine to decrease radiation used at all. With digital x-ray systems radiation exposed to the patient is one fourth the amount used to expose conventional films!!
When you weigh the pros and cons of dental x-rays, we find that in virtually every situation, a conservative yet thorough exam is in the best interest of the patient. X-ray exams will vary in frequency and number of x-rays taken from patient to patient. Seeing what lurks behind gums and in between teeth is so important to treat early so that little mouth problems will not turn into a big systemic health problem!
We hope you have a wonderful day, and we look forward to seeing you soon!
ReplyDeletelawyer
Very important facts that realy need to be known by each one of us that care about is dental health!!!
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