“How many dental x-rays are too many in a year?”
I am a 41 year old female. I want to know how many dental x-rays are too many in a year?
2 Answers
The amount of radiation from a single digital oral x-ray is approximately 4 microsieverts. To put that in perspective normal background radiation in Denver, Colorado is 500 microsieverts. In other words the radiation dose is quite small and not a significant risk. A chest x-ray is approximately 25 microsieverts. A CT of the abdomen is somewhere between 7000 and 10,000 microsieverts. Therefore you can have many oral x-rays in a year and it is OK.
X-rays should be limited, but when used yearly and as needed for treatment, the X-rays are not too many. The low radiation of most X-rays may even be beneficial by inducing enzymes
to avoid cancer formation.
to avoid cancer formation.
