Are dental x-rays safe and necessary?
Many people are concerned about the potential health effects of dental x-rays. As a doctor trained in both dentistry and natural medicine, I share that concern. Environmental exposure to radiation may have detrimental effects on the human body. My goal is to balance the enormous diagnostic benefits of x-rays with any potential risk. When all sources of environmental exposure to radiation are considered, dental x-rays contribute less than 0.1% to the overall burden while medical exposure contributes 20%. The impact of dental x-rays is so low that when experts calculate the “estimated genetically significant dose” from medical procedures, dental exposure is not even considered. On any given day our entire bodies are exposed to significant doses of background radiation. By comparison, a single dental x-ray is equivalent to 0.075 days of environmental exposure. However, a standard medical CAT Scan exposes you to 10,000 times the average daily background exposure. As you can see, the radiat
