Radiation Necessary for Diagnosis of Dental Disease
Serenity Smile Designs: Cosmetic, Implant, & General Dentistry located in Egg Harbor Township is dedicated to providing the best possible care for our patients. Our office uses the most advanced digital X-rays available on the market, which provide 75% lower radiation than other standard dental X-ray technology used in many other New Jersey dental offices.
Yes, X-rays have concentrated radiation. Again, the amounts are very small (and they are getting smaller, which we’ll go over a little further down), but if there will be X-rays taken of your mouth, it makes perfect sense to shield your neck and upper torso — because why have radiation exposure to those areas when it’s not needed? And really, that’s all the shield is.
So why does the dentist leave the room when taking X-rays? The dentist leaves the room because they do this all day long — yes, sitting for one X-ray session (as you are) isn’t bad. But the dentist might do 10 of these in a day. That’s ten times the exposure you get, and then they do it day after day after day. So that’s why they leave the room.
OK, now that I’ve answered those two main questions, allow me to present a few facts and findings regarding radiation and dental X-rays.
Very Targeted
Unlike conventional X-rays on other parts of the body (which usually take a picture of a large area), dental X-rays are very targeted to a small part of the body. In fact, it’s typically shot via a cone (like a laser), and very focused. This ultra-precise targeting (plus your lead apron) ensures that just a small part of the body receives the small dose of radiation.
Digital X-rays have been around for awhile now, and are quite popular, although I will say that not all dentists use them, because the equipment is expensive. But the advantages are so profound that I believe you should probably seek out a dentist who does. Amongst the benefits are: immediate viewing of the digital image, easy storage for comparison, the ability to enhance the image, better communication between dental practitioners (when you can e-mail an X-ray, it’s a huge timesaver), and (ready for it?) LOWER radiation. In some cases, up to 80 percent lower. This is a pretty big deal.
As you can see, the radiation you get from dental X-rays is negligible (even without the just-mentioned digital x-rays). You receive more radiation by just “living” than you do by going to your dentist. But the benefits of dental X-rays are huge — in most cases, we cannot see dental issues without them. With X-rays, we can catch that cavity well before you feel it — without an X-ray, it could linger (painlessly, even), until the tooth becomes infected. Then, it’s generally either a root canal, or you lose the tooth. That’s a heavy price to pay — trust me, the X-ray is well worth it.
Many diseases of the teeth and surrounding structures cannot be viewed without x-rays. they can help reveal
The Washington State Department states that the maximum safe occupational whole-body exposure is 5,000 mRem (this means you would need 15,000 digital X-rays to reach this limit).
The pie chart on the following page shows a breakdown of radiation sources that contribute to the average annual U.S. radiation dose of 620 mRem. Of this, four bitewings account for 1.2 mRem, which represents 0.0019% of a person’s annual radiation exposure.
About half of the total annual average U.S. individual radiation exposure comes from natural sources. The other half is mostly from diagnostic medical procedures. The average annual radiation exposure from natural sources is about 310 millirem (3.1 millisieverts or mSv). Radon and thoron gases account for two-thirds of this exposure, while cosmic, terrestrial, and internal radiation account for the remainder. No adverse health effects have been observed from doses arising from these levels of natural radiation exposure.
Schedule your visit with our dentists in Egg Harbor Township, NJ and take the first step toward a healthier smile.
