For most patients, walking into the dental office is a pretty daunting task. Having fears regarding dentists is common, and as we all know, such fears can often be resolved by developing a good rapport and trust in your dentist. However, some people fear the dentist for another reason: x-rays and the potential risks involved with them.
What is the importance of x rays in a dental office? X rays play a key role in evaluating teeth in case of decay, especially in proximal aspect of teeth, to decide the need for RCT, to find infected, abscessed teeth, orthodontic planning, and prior to tooth removal/extractions and to determine bone levels in periodontal disease and implant placement. The x rays can often make or break a treatment plan, and hence is called a dentist’s most important diagnostic tool.
however, google searches and print media is often riddled with information which often grossly misrepresent the effects of dental x rays. Although it is true that radiation causes effects which are harmful, we often underestimate the amount of exposure to radiation we are exposed to on a daily basis. This daily radiation comes from outer space, the earth, natural materials including foods, and even other people. The average annual exposure of an individual is about 3.1 Milli Sievert.
So what is the exposure from a dental x ray? A single high speed film small x ray (Intra oral radiograph) which is the basic 2 D x ray upur dentist exposes you in his office, gives an exposure of about 5 micro Sievert which is equivalent of 0.6 days of background exposure (it is, simply put, your radiation exposure from the sun and other surrounding earth elements). This amount is near negligible.
Even full skull exposures such as OPG, lateral cephalogram gives about 1-3 days of background exposure. The recent advancements in dental radiography such as CBCT gives exposure ranges about 8 -100 days of exposure.
What is more important to understand for the patient is that your dentist looks at benefit versus risk when it comes to radiation. Your dentist will never recommend any x rays to you unless it is really required.
Latest radiation protocols have also introduced the use of lead aprons and thyroid collars in your average dental clinic which further significantly reduces the source of radiation exposure to you and your loved ones..
Hundreds of teeth are often unnecessarily lost due to lack of x rays for diagnosis. Dental X-rays are absolutely the safest of procedures performed regularly at the clinic, so don’t let your fear of radiation stop you from getting the best diagnostic dental care available.