Are Dental X-Rays Necessary?

Everyone is constantly exposed to radiation, whether from the sun(ultraviolet rays cause sunburns and can lead to skin cancer as we all know) or cosmic radiation from space.  Each day we receive a very low dose of radiation.

Four dental X-rays/radiographs are about the same exposure that we normally get in a day simply from existing on our planet, a very low and safe dose.  Even less, if your dentists is using digital radiographs like we do athealthy Smile Mobile Dental. 

Risks from untreated diseases far outweigh the risk from the dental x-rays. We only takes x-rays needed to treat a patient. At your first visit we generally take 4 x-rays to see all your teeth.  At subsequent visits the need forradiographs is determined by your dental history (lots of cavities in the past? lots of old fillings? bad home care habits? an area that's concerning you?) and will generally only a couple will be taken every year or so unless there is a problem. We are also happy to forward any radiographs we do take to your Dentist - we can either email them to you to forward/bring or send them directly to your dentist of choice.

 

So lets compare radiation exposure for a dental and widely used medical test in the chart. To put one of these tests into numbers, you would need to over 2000 dental x-rays to get the same radiation exposure as a single mammogram!   

Dental x-rays are also focused on a small area of the body and, as an extra precaution we also always use a lead shield or apron to further protect you from any minute scatter radiation. There are provincial & dental regulations that require regular testing of all our x-ray equipment so we can be assured everything is working properly. 

If you have any other questions or concerns regarding radiographs/x-rays - please ask. We're here to answer your questions.