Dental x-rays expose patients to relatively low radiation doses. Repeated exposure could also increase the risk of cancer. X-rays are a type of ionizing radiation and ionizing radiation has been shown to cause cancer. Ionizing radiation, when passing through the body, removes electrons from atoms that this energy passes through.
The resulting protons, known as free radicals, can damage the body's cells. Although these cells return to normal most of the time, in rare cases the cells heal with some abnormalities. These abnormal cells can then develop into cancer. From this alone, people believe that dental x-rays can cause cancer.
To gain perspective, a single digital dental x-ray has 0.1 mrem radiation and a set of 4 bites has 0.4 mrem. Digital dental x-rays produce 80 to 90% less radiation than traditional x-rays. Dental x-rays can help diagnose diseases and pathologies. The advantages certainly outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to having routine dental x-rays.
The next time you're considering skipping dental x-rays** due to radiation exposure, you might be able to stop watching TV* for a few days. X-rays only increase the chances of dying from cancer by 1 in 2000; compare this to the natural chance of dying from cancer in 1 in 5.But I would never sit down to take 18 x-rays of my teeth, when I'm only there to clean myself, especially if I had a dental x-ray the year before, unless there's a serious problem in my mouth that requires so many x-rays. I went ahead and got my second dental opinion and had a series of completely new x-rays done (after only 3 weeks from the first). When it comes to dental health, it's always easier, less expensive and less painful to detect these problems early.
The truth is that there is nothing magical about the X-ray radiation used to create the excellent three-dimensional images of the new dental scanners. To address any radiation problem, you have to realize that since my father practiced, between the 1950s and 70s, manual films weren't very fast and X-ray tubes weren't colimetric, so much more scattered radiation exposed patients and doctors in the ward, however, my father or anyone else of your colleagues or your patients didn't die from radiation or even get sick because of it. One person told me that the radiation was similar to that of your phone, great that they didn't know the difference between microwave radiation and X-rays and the length of each other's electromagnetic wave in relation to body penetration. X-rays are a very common dental procedure that allows the dentist to look deep inside the gums, including the bones, the roots of the teeth, and through tooth enamel.
Stuart White, professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Dentistry, says the key is for the dentist to evaluate each patient before they have an x-ray. One thing that bothers me is that he, like the dental establishment, although he admits the dangers of CT scans, makes fun of the dangers of dental x-rays, using the standard retort, which is equivalent to an airplane flight or a few days of background radiation. However, x-rays are a form of radiation, and some people are concerned that exposing a person to dental x-rays will cause cancer. Two years ago, I changed my interval for bite x-rays every year to every two years, because for two consecutive years the dental assistant took them several times again.
The most common way dentists explain the dose of their x-rays to concerned patients is by relating it to background radiation. .
