You’ve heard X-rays can be harmful to your health. X-rays give off radiation, which can be detrimental in high doses. Read here to discover which X-rays are harmful and beneficial to your health.
Studio Z Dental is dedicated to providing the highest quality dentistry and is committed to following the standard of care. This means that our patients must have current digital X-rays, also known as radiographs.
We are mindful of following the principle of ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) for radiographs. Our advanced digital X-ray radiographs emit only half the amount of radiation as traditional film X-rays. These radiographs enable us to visualize vital areas of the mouth that are not visible during a clinical examination due to tissue or tooth position. This helps maintain your overall oral health over time.
We can provide our patients with superior dentistry, including both dental radiographs and comprehensive exams. You can feel confident that your visit will detect both surface problems and any issues hidden beneath the surface of the teeth or gums.
Understandably, there is concern over our patients' use of X-rays. X-rays used by many dentists can be harmful if done too frequently. A typically healthy body can easily clear out radiation in lower doses. This is why the benefits of early detection that our digital X-rays offer greatly outweigh the low radiation they emit.
Below is a scientifically backed chart comparing our X-rays with other radiation exposures. A new patient bitewing series emits so little radiation that it’s only half the radiation you receive from a flight from New York to LA.
Average Micro-Sieverts effective dose:
- 0.1 eating a banana
- 1 Using a CRT monitor for a year
- 5 Dental x-ray (digital)
- 10 Background dose received per day
- 20 Dental bitewing series (digital)
- 40 Flight from New York to LA
- 100 Chest X-ray
- 400 doses per person, per year from food
- 700 One mammogram
- 1,500 Spine X-ray
- 3,000-4,000 One year’s exposure to natural radiation, soil, cosmic rays, etc
- 10,000 Average CT scan (medical)
Please feel free to ask us any questions about our use of digital X-rays that aren’t answered here.