What's the deal with all the X-rays? (Part 1)

As you come in for your new visit or twice-yearly checkups, it becomes obvious that in the modern practice of dentistry you can expect to have X-rays (or radiographs, as we like to call them) recommended to you pretty often. What's the deal with all these films? They carry a monetary cost (often, but not always covered by insurance plans) in addition to raising concerns about radiation exposure. As with many things in life, you have to weigh the pros and cons. The truth is that a regularly-taken series of radiographs is one of the most important parts of a successful preventive dental plan. Whether your dentist takes a full series, routine bitewings, or an orthopantomograph (the one where you stand up and the tubehead rotates around you), these films allow a dentist to keep your overall time in the chair and costs down in a number of different ways. First off, although we like to think that we're pretty good at catching dental caries (decay) and periodontal (gum) disease in its early stages, we are limited when all we use is the naked eye (even with the nerdy-looking microscope glasses that we wear). In certain areas, like in between teeth and under existing fillings, decay is often detectable several months earlier on well-taken radiographs than under direct vision. It's amazing how silently decay can grow and when it finally becomes visible in these spots, you can be sure it's going to be deep, opening the door for more involved dental work (like a root canal and/or a crown) . If we can find a spot of decay while it's still small, now we're only talking about a small filling or even better, a chance to stop the decay in its tracks with a high-fluoride toothpaste or rinse. The cost savings for a filling vs. a root canal and crown can be over a thousand dollars, making the films (at less than fifty bucks a year) a pretty attractive option. Lately, a lot of people are analyzing their spending and trying to eliminate unneccessary purchases. This can be a great thing in many aspects but it can work against you in dentistry where, like the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In our office we recommend keeping up with a regular schedule of X-rays, but if yearly films aren't an option for you right now then getting them every two years can still make a tremendous difference in your ability to avoid future unplanned dental work. As far as radation exposure is concerned, over the long term the exposure from the number of films that must be taken for a procedure such as a root canal can outnumber the exposure for routine preventive X-rays. Also, digital films (which are becoming increasingly more common) reduce your exposure even further. As always, it's important to be as informed as possible about the dental treatments that are recommended for you, and your dentist should be happy to discuss any concerns you may have about the pros and cons of dental X-rays.