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My husband is telling me that routine dental x-rays are not supported by evidence and we should decline them for our children (and ourselves), based on a random article he read. What’s your take?
—A Cavity Queen
I am not sure where your husband is reading it, but in fact his take is consistent with the American Dental Association guidelines.
Some background: Dental x-rays are a source of radiation, and generally we want to avoid radiation. This is more true for children, since they are smaller, so the same x-ray radiation dose could be more of a problem. High doses of radiation pose a cancer risk.
This doesn’t mean we should never have x-rays or other imaging. These can be crucial in diagnosis and treatment, including in dental care. All it means is that we should think about the need for x-rays before doing them.
The American Dental Association takes this view and, therefore, recommends against routine x-rays without a reason. Depending on your dental health, it may still be recommended to have x-rays every year or two. But it is worth asking, for both yourself and your children, what the clinical reason is for them.
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Does absence of fluoride in the drinking water automatically increase a child’s risk? There are no hygiene concerns or concerns from the dentist and we’ve been using fluoride toothpaste since 1 year old.
Dentist here with a baby of my own. Per AAPD guidance x-rays are based on cavity risk. We know that this is highly variable among all of our patients. We take the minimal amount of “check-up” x-rays in order to diagnose based on many factors that determine if a child or adult is low, moderate or high risk for decay. It is also important to take full mouth x-rays every 3-5 years especially during periods of growth to check for abnormalities of the jaws and developing dentition. The dentist cannot see through the tooth or jaws and cavities can grow very quickly in baby teeth, which is why x-rays are often take at 6 month intervals if a child is moderate- high risk. Most in the dental community value prevention and early intervention and x-rays are a critical part of accurate diagnosis.
Some kids do need X-rays every year. The ADA guidelines say that the radiographs should be determined based on the patient (vs a blanket recommendation for all), not that radiographs shouldn’t be taken at all.
Wow, I had no idea. Both our kids and we have gotten annual x rays our whole lives. Our kids also got “growth and development” panoramic x rays at age 8. The kids have never had a cavity or a concern; these were all just x rays just because. Is this a recent change from the ADA? Or have most dentists been going against policy for a long time?
I am sick to my stomach thinking about the yearly dental X-rays our pediatric dentist has pushed on my children for the last 5 years. I wish I would’ve known better. Everytime I questioned it, they would say it’s totally safe and needed to see if there were cavities. This is exactly why so people have lost faith in the health community. We will declining all future X-rays and pray it hasn’t caused damage/future cancer risk.