All Smiles Dental Care
7750 Okeechobee Blvd., Suite 16
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
ph: or Text: 561-689-4343
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Do I really need X-rays?
On your initial visit you will have a full mouth series x-rays which is like going to your General Medicine Doctor and he/she recommending your blood work to complete a general checkup. We need to have a baseline of the condition of your teeth for evaluation and reference.
X-rays are useful to the patient and dentist for:
> | Discovering cavities between teeth and underneath old fillings and crowns. | |
> | Evaluating bone support around teeth and gum disease. | |
> | Discovering abscesses and rootinfections. | |
> | Discovering cysts and tumors. You would have to take 1750 dental x-rays to equal the radiation in a lower GI series! 1 dental x-ray is 1/10000 of the yearly maximum recommended dose.
To put things in perspective, each time you fly from coast to coast you receive 4 millirems of background radiation, or the equivalent of four panoramic radiographs.
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This simple and useful diagnostic procedure is commonly misunderstood. Patients are often understandably concerned with radiation exposure. Below is a fact sheet about x-ray radiation you may find interesting:
The following exposures of bone marrow to radiation during typical x-ray examinations are listed below in millirems, a measurement of radiation.
The maximum on the job yearly exposure for Canadian and U.S. radiation workers has been set at 5,000 millirems. Low doses spread out over a period of time are not as harmful as larges doses at once because the body has time to recover.
HIGH DOSE GROUP | millirems |
Barium enema: lower GI series | 875 |
Pelvimetry: examination to evaluate the proportions of the birth canal | 595 |
Barium meal: upper GI series | 535 |
Mammography: breast examination | 1000 |
Lumbosacral spine (lower spine) | 450 |
Small bowel series | 422 |
IV pyelogram | 420 |
Lumbar spine | 347 |
Thoracic spine | 247 |
| |
MEDIUM DOSE GROUP | |
Gallbladder | 168 |
Abdomen | 147 |
Ribs | 143 |
Pelvis | 133 |
Skull | 78 |
Hip | 72 |
LOW DOSE GROUP | |
Cervical spine (neck) | 52 |
Femur (upper leg) | 21 |
Dental (full mouth series) | 9 |
Dental (panorex) | 1 |
Dental (bitewing) | 0.5 |
All Smiles Dental Care
7750 Okeechobee Blvd., Suite 16
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
ph: or Text: 561-689-4343
infosmil