Dental X-Rays and Their Safety Concerns
When you go for the diagnosis of any oral and/or dental health issue, it’s the dental x-rays test the dentists usually go for. Many people wonder if this diagnostic procedure is safer. The matter of fact is that this process is quite safer due to extremely low doses of radiation the dental x-ray technology deals with. However, if you are worried about dental x-rays and wondering if you really should go for it, you need to dig a little deeper about it. In this article, we are going to tell you how safer the dental x-rays are.
One thing that you need to keep in mind is that you don’t need to worry about anything if you are getting examined with x-rays having all of the safety precautions deployed.
Who needs dental x-rays?
Just because dental x-rays are safer as compared to conventional x-rays doesn’t mean that dentists are going to use it on every visitor. There are some concerns about a patient that can prompt the dentists to conduct dental x-rays. There are certain conditions for which a patient may need dental x-rays. Those symptoms are:
- Tooth decay occurring in the inner part of a filled tooth
- Bone loss due to gum diseases
- Tooth abscess
- Tumors
- Change in root canal
These are the hidden issues which can be seen with the help of dental x-rays. Leaving these problems untreated can lead to serious oral and overall health disorders.
Dental x-rays and children
When it comes to the matter about safety of dental x-rays, parents are the most concerned people due to the fact that children can be more sensitive to radiation. Nevertheless, the amount of radiation used in dental x-rays do not hurt children from any aspect. Since children get the structure of their teeth changing due to natural development, it is important to keep an eye on the oral health of children. In this scenario, dental x-rays can be quite helpful. These dental x-rays help dentists to check several factors. For instance:
- They can check if the child’s mouth is large enough to accommodate new teeth.
- Monitoring the development of wisdom teeth
- Monitoring the loosening process of primary teeth
- Looking for early signs of tooth decay and gum disease
Safety Precautions with Dental X-Rays
There are a number of things your dentist can do to ensure maximum safety during dental x-ray procedure. For instance, your dentist may take a single image rather than taking a series of images in order to ensure minimum exposure to radiation. If you are taking your kids for dental checkup, you can ask the dentist to use reduced radiation.