Your safety is a top priority in every aspect of your dental appointment. From protecting your identity with secure protocols at the front desk to adhering to strict infection control standards, the dental team strives to keep you safe and healthy at all times. The use of dental radiation is no exception to the rule, which is why a Boerne dentist would never expose you or your family to unnecessary X-rays.
You are right to be concerned about the ways that dental X-rays could affect your body or how much radiation exposure you may receive in a dental visit. However, the dental community is proud of the efforts that have been made to provide incredibly accurate diagnostics and care while greatly reducing the required dosage of radiation. There has been a tremendous shift towards digital X-ray imaging rather than conventional X-ray film, as high-quality digital images can be produced with a very low dose of radiation. The size of the X-ray beam has also been precisely calibrated for greater focus and less scattered or wasted radiation.
In general, the radiation that is generated during a complete set of dental X-rays is considerably less than many natural or medical radiation sources. For example, you might be surprised to learn that you are exposed to the equivalent of 10 days of sun exposure when you take a single flight from Los Angeles to London. This is due to the amount of radiation that is naturally present in the atmosphere.
That’s roughly the same amount of radiation (about 10-11 days of sun exposure) that might be produced for a Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) which would be used to show the wisdom teeth or a dental implant. In comparison, your exposure from a single CT scan of your abdomen adds up to roughly 3 years of sun exposure!
Other X-ray Comparisons:
- A single dental X-ray of 1-3 teeth: 1 day of sun exposure
- A two-dimensional panoramic head and jaw image: 2 or 3 days of natural exposure
- A chest X-ray on conventional film: 10 days of radiation
X-rays help us to diagnose and treat the dental conditions that could threaten your health. However, it is nice to know that you can be treated by a dentist in Boerne who will utilize this technology responsibly. For more information regarding your exposure to radiation, please call for an appointment today.