• Dental Health
  • Patient Education

No Need for Alarm About Dental X-Rays

New research is suggesting that the public question how frequently routine dental X-rays should be performed, but members of the 123Dentist Community Dentist Network say that this U.S. research is simply emphasizing a diminishing and already well-known risk related to the procedure.

To put the risk into contest, the radiation levels patients are exposed to during dental X-rays are comparable to the amount of radiation that passengers are exposed to on a transatlantic flight from unfiltered sun rays.

The results of this study aren’t meant as a scare tactic to warn people into abandoning dental X-rays altogether, researchers simply want people to re-consider how often they receive the procedure.

While people may worry about exposure to radiation during these procedures, they must remember that dentists are always concerned about minimizing the amount of radiation a patient receives in the dental office.

In fact, members of the 123Dentist Community Dentist Network have switched to offering digital X-rays for patients. These digital alternatives offer an 80% reduction in radiation with no need for film or processing chemicals.