Dental X-Rays

MichaelB

MichaelB

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A broken filling has made it necessary for an unscheduled dentist visit, away from my regular dentist. No doubt an X-Ray will be imposed.

Is this absolutely necessary and is there a reasonable way to avoid one? My body has already had enough radiation and doesn't need any more, and future radiography should be limited to "needed" and not "helpful" or "nice to have".
 
The amount of radiation from a plain diagnostic dental x-ray is so low as to be virtually indistinguishable from background "noise." Think flying in an airplane, living in a city at altitude, etc. Not that you would want it for no reason but, at least statistically, you would be better off worrying about almost anything else.
 
OTOH if the DDS wants to do a full bitewing, with one of them rotating machines, start asking questions.
 
I know the dosage is low, but my dentist wants xrays every time I see him (annually unless something comes up). I simply decline on alternate years, so I get them every other year.

Of course if I have a problem, I can usually understand why he wants a special xray of that, and I don't mind those.

But nine times out of ten, he looks at the xray very carefully, then says "Well, it all looks good." If I am only there for my annual cleaning and checkup, and have no problem I'm aware of, I kind of resent being exposed to unnecessary radiation for really no reason at all.
 
Dental X-Rays

Advances in x-ray equipment, especially film technology, allow your dentist to get a good x-ray image using much less radiation than was previously required. A typical dental x-ray image exposes you to only about 2 or 3 mrem. The National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP) says that the average resident of the U.S. receives about 360 mrem every year from background sources. This comes from outer space, radioactive materials in the earth, and small amounts of radioactive material in most foods we consume.
Click to expand...
 
Just make sure they put that lead apron on you, just in case you're pregnant and don't know it.

Amethyst
 
OK. One less thing to worry about. Thanks. I think.
 
wow! You guys, and gals, are tough. I'm a dentist and I don't own a boat, don't belong to a country club and drive a '04 camry. Let's talk about x-rays. As masterblaster said one x-ray is 2 mrems. extremely small amount of radiation. Each patient is looked at differently depending on their past history of decay. Some are prone to decay due to diet, oral hygiene, etc. The "average" patient will get 4 x-rays once a year to spot any early signs of decay and "gum disease". Every 3 to 5 you will have a full mouth x-ray which is about 18 x-rays. This will help to spot any infections, and get a better look at any "gum disease". We don't take these x-rays to get rich. X-rays are $10-15 each. Not going to get rich that way. The x-rays are taken to prevent a small cavity from becoming a big cavity, which can happen surprisingly fast. If we wanted to get rich we would let the small cavities become big ones. A simple filling is $100-200. A root canal, and crown is $2,000. If you don't want x-rays done you can't be forced to have them, but they are a small price to pay for prevention.
 
mn54 said:
wow! You guys, and gals, are tough. I'm a dentist and I don't own a boat, don't belong to a country club and drive a '04 camry. ....
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Hi MN - do u own an ice house for fishing or snowmobile or cabin for the summer? :LOL: That's my MN impression, I'm a transplant to the Twin Cities about 6 years ago and everyone around me has "toys".
 
I just had my first Panorex xray done on my last cleaning visit. It was a pretty cool machine and image (once a techno-geek, always a...:whistle:).
I've had peridontal disease in the past as result of not being able to afford to go to a dentist while in college. I get 4 cleanings a year (my choice) to keep a recurrence at bay and avoid repeats of the deep scaling procedure. :nonono:
My dentist keeps a very close eye on any more bone loss happening. So far so good. :D
My teeth also tend to shear off small pieces here and there, requiring partial surface rebuilding or worst case, a crown.
I have Delta Dental Plan A insurance through AARP. For my needs, $52 a month is a small price to pay. They are not making a lot of net profit from my premiums. :cool:
 
You probably are right. I was a little hard and for that I apologize. oldtrig
 
I would rather have a strange dentist with no dental records first take the xray. He could just start drilling away without a plan but.....
 
mn54 said:
wow! You guys, and gals, are tough. I'm a dentist and I don't own a boat, don't belong to a country club and drive a '04 camry. Let's talk about x-rays. As masterblaster said one x-ray is 2 mrems. extremely small amount of radiation. Each patient is looked at differently depending on their past history of decay. Some are prone to decay due to diet, oral hygiene, etc. The "average" patient will get 4 x-rays once a year to spot any early signs of decay and "gum disease". Every 3 to 5 you will have a full mouth x-ray which is about 18 x-rays. This will help to spot any infections, and get a better look at any "gum disease". We don't take these x-rays to get rich. X-rays are $10-15 each. Not going to get rich that way. The x-rays are taken to prevent a small cavity from becoming a big cavity, which can happen surprisingly fast. If we wanted to get rich we would let the small cavities become big ones. A simple filling is $100-200. A root canal, and crown is $2,000. If you don't want x-rays done you can't be forced to have them, but they are a small price to pay for prevention.
Click to expand...
My original post was not about greed - neither implied nor assumed, but about unnecessary radiation. I acknowledge Rich's response that it is too low to matter, went to the dentist and got my tooth treated to my satisfaction - including the x-ray.

The dangers of excess radiation have been drilled into my mind my entire life, however, and the recent thread on TSA http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-airport-security-mesures-run-wild-53177.html highlighted the fact that different types of radiation have much different effects. What irritates me is the presumption that each request for an x-ray is by default in my best interest, most of my efforts to question are taken as a challenge, and the typical response is either personal offense (are you questioning me?) or disregard (you don't know what you are talking about).

My questions are not challenging or offensive. The responses have never addressed my concerns. Perhaps they are unanswerable. It is not, however, about the money.
 
Perhaps you need a new dentist and hygenist. Mine explain the specific reason for x-rays each and every time and wait for my answer, yes or no, before proceeding. I've never said no, so I don't know what they'd say or do if the procedure would be difficult or risky without an x-ray beforehand. They do say a few patients refuse full bitewing x-ray sets during periodic check-ups, some for cost and some for radiation concerns.

Tooth gona be OK?
 
I wouldn't trust what a dentist says about X-rays. They just don't know because it is likely they are just told by the manufacturer what "the truth" is.

Sure, X-rays of teeth are beneficial, but there is no reason to go overboard on them. There is no safe dose of X-rays. One can only try to get as low as reasonably achievable. If a dentist or hospital has an old X-ray machine with scratches, dents, etc, then the dose you get may be unknown.

Maybe I can ask the dentists? Has your machine been calibrated? How do you know how many rems does it give out? Also, film is a notoriously bad X-ray detector. An imaging plate or CCD should allow 1/100th the dose of film.
 
LOL! said:
Sure, X-rays of teeth are beneficial, but there is no reason to go overboard on them.
Click to expand...

I think the problem is understanding what "overboard" is. Is a full set of bitewings once a year during my annual checkup "overboard" for a 63 yr old? How about if I'm getting some other work done inbetween checkups and the dentist requests an x-ray for guidance before planting the explosives?

I don't think that "overboard" is all that obvious in real world situations.

I'm assuming you must turn down x-ray requests, period. And since I can't remember the last time that an annual checkup x-ray turned up any issue with my teeth, you're probably doing the right thing. But I'm not worried about the level of exposure I'm getting.
 
I am not a medical professional.
You can look up a professional journal's recommendations (at least as of 2006) here.
The use of dental radiographs: Update and recommendations -- American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs 137 (9): 1304 -- The Journal of the American Dental Association
There may be newer or more authoritative recommendations, I do not know. I tried to copy-paste the table here but wasn't smart enough to figure out how (it's in a pop-up).
As you can see from Table 1, different patient conditions are recommended to have different frequency of x-rays. I mentioned this to my dentist, and he admitted he just x-rayed everybody every exam, unless they objected.
I tend to bow to the judgment of educated professionals but they have to be able to justify themselves when I have a question. In my case, he admitted the recommendation was every other year for me, rather than the every year I would have gotten if I hadn't spoken up.
I have flown a lot. Radiation exposure is cumulative over a lifetime and more and more, medical science is recognizing that no amount of radiation is good for you, even if you are older (maybe especially if you are older). But having bad teeth or gums is a serious risk to your health.
 
Thanks tffmc. I would fall into the 2 yr category on the chart. I've been getting x-ray'd every 12 - 18 months depending on exactly when I get into the dentist. I go about twice a year and they've been taking xrays on alternate visits. I'll discuss waiting longer with doc. Maybe every third visit....... or even fourth.
 
Amethyst said:
Just make sure they put that lead apron on you, just in case you're pregnant and don't know it.

Amethyst
Click to expand...


and be sure they use the neck apron, dental X-rays may increase risk of thyroid cancer. You should see the stats on how thyroid cancer is on the increase!
 
LOL! said:
I wouldn't trust what a dentist says about X-rays. They just don't know because it is likely they are just told by the manufacturer what "the truth" is.
<snip>
Maybe I can ask the dentists? Has your machine been calibrated? How do you know how many rems does it give out? Also, film is a notoriously bad X-ray detector. An imaging plate or CCD should allow 1/100th the dose of film.
Click to expand...

Would you allow them to inject you with anesthetic and drill and fill and possibly extract but you don't trust what they say about X-rays? :confused:

Do you have a radiological background?
 
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