At the push of a button, up pops a digital dental x-ray! An x-ray is a radiographic image of your teeth that tells dental professionals what’s going on inside your mouth. X-rays are one of the best diagnostic tools we dentist use to keep you healthy. X-rays help us find cavities that form in between your teeth or under old dental work. X-rays also help us diagnose infections and fractures. They help evaluate the health of your gums, the status of wisdom teeth and detect problems with TMJ. That’s a lot of useful information from one picture!
During my time practicing dentistry, I’ve had several patients ask me about the risk of radiation exposure associated with dental x-rays. I always appreciate when patients ask about this topic because it is nice to set their minds at ease. The truth is that we are exposed to small amounts of radiation in our everyday lives.
Fact – flying in an airplane, or smoking are things that would expose you to more radiation than a dental x-ray! The amount of radiation you would receive from a dental x-ray is closer to the trace amount of radiation from you would receive from eating a banana rather than the amount you would receive flying from New York to Los Angeles.
At Olympia Hills Family Dental we use the most up-to-date x-ray equipment to ensure that our patients receive the lowest level of radiation possible; our x-ray equipment follows the “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” or ALARA principle to keep our patients safe. A leaded apron is also placed on the patient to minimize radiation exposure.
So are dental x-rays safe? Absolutely! The risk of x-rays at the dental office is very low compared to the benefits. Evaluation and diagnosis using x-rays will lead to proper treatment planning by your dentist. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding x-rays, feel free to talk to the dentists or staff at Olympia Hills Family Dental.