OT: Link between Dental X-rays and Cancer

I just got back from the dentist and refused routine dental x-rays for the 4th time. This time the dentist threatened to kick me out of the door, but then said, "Well, we won't do that because we like you." Yea, as if he'd ever do it. This is why I refuse them:

Huffington Post article wrote:"If I was going to get a root canal and I needed an X-ray, for example, I would get one," Black said, claiming that he regularly refuses imaging at the dentist's office. "But the reflex to get one every year is overexposing one to X-rays. And these are going to the base of the brain, toward the base of the skull."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/1 ... 13158.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22492363

If you do your own Internet search, you will find more than enough to refuse them too.

I do not let my Dentist do dental X-Rays but once every 2 or 3 years, but not for any link to cancer.

There seems to be evidence that suggests that dental X-Rays (from some types of machines) can also affect your Thyroid.

My dentist claims that his machine is NOT one of those machines.

But, I still see no need to do dental X-Rays once a year when those X-Rays have never uncovered anything in the past.

They periodically make me sign a refusal form (to protect their butts).

Now, if I were having specific problems, I would allow those X-Rays to look for a source of those problems.

(Edited to remove the assumption that the OP actually cited a reason!)

StuUnderPressure wrote:I do not let my Dentist do dental X-Rays but once every 2 or 3 years, but not for the reason you cite.

To be clear, what reason did I cite? other than put forward the fact-study linking x-rays with cancer--I don't know about you, but that's all I need to know.

BTW, I really appreciate your info regarding thyroid issues also. Many thanks!

Loreena wrote:

StuUnderPressure wrote:I do not let my Dentist do dental X-Rays but once every 2 or 3 years, but not for the reason you cite.

To be clear, what reason did I cite? other than put forward the fact-study linking x-rays with cancer--I don't know about you, but that's all I need to know.

BTW, I really appreciate your info regarding thyroid issues also. Many thanks!

I was merely referring to your subject line "Link between Dental X-rays and Cancer" as the reason you cite. I did not even click on your links.
I just assumed that since you posted it, you agreed with it.

StuUnderPressure wrote: I was merely referring to your subject line "Link between Dental X-rays and Cancer" as the reason you cite. I did not even click on your links.
I just assumed that since you posted it, you agreed with it.

Unfortunately I didn't have to agree with anything......since it was an official government study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22492363

I wonder if the following is still true?:

The pro-x-ray dudes wrote:"Dental x-rays are one of the lowest radiation dose studies performed. A routine exam which includes 4 bitwings is about 0.005 mSv, which is less than one day of natural background radiation. It is also about the same amount of radiation exposure from a short airplane flight (~1-2 hrs)."--http://www.xrayrisk.com/faq.php#q20

jnk wrote:I wonder if the following is still true?:

The pro-x-ray dudes wrote:"Dental x-rays are one of the lowest radiation dose studies performed. A routine exam which includes 4 bitwings is about 0.005 mSv, which is less than one day of natural background radiation. It is also about the same amount of radiation exposure from a short airplane flight (~1-2 hrs)."--http://www.xrayrisk.com/faq.php#q20

Better tell them daggum Feds that.........they must be Losers

Perhaps I misread the conclusion given in the abstract of the study to which you linked, but it appears to me that the study was about "some dental x-rays performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era." Also, it appears to me that the words "appears to be associated with" do not suggest any identifiable direct link between the two. Furthermore, the conclusion, as written, actually seems to me to be a good basis for recommending the use of modern dental x-ray techniques, since the conclusion says, "considered use . . . may be of benefit." [underlines mine]

I'm not real good at reading studies, though. So maybe I misread it even worse than the journalists have done.

Here is the conclusion of the abstract in its entirety:

an abstract of a study by the American Cancer Society dudes back in 2012, as linked to earlier wrote:CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to some dental x-rays performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era, appears to be associated with an increased risk of intracranial meningioma. As with all sources of artificial ionizing radiation, considered use of this modifiable risk factor may be of benefit to patients.

As for telling the feds, I say as little as possible to them. They have enough of my foolishness on file to sift through over at the NSA as it is.

Besides, their brains are probably fried from all the air travel they do.

I enjoy your posts.

an abstract of a study by the American Cancer Society dudes back in 2012, as linked to earlier wrote:CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to some dental x-rays performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era, appears to be associated with an increased risk of intracranial meningioma. As with all sources of artificial ionizing radiation, considered use of this modifiable risk factor may be of benefit to patients.

I enjoy your posts.

I luv you my baby, jnk, too.

I think one needs to think about this: I don't think there's any reason to doubt the facts in this para in the Huffington article:

"The new findings are important because dental X-rays are the most common source of exposure to ionizing radiation among residents of the United States, according to the study's authors. And while they write that full-mouth and bitewing X-rays are associated with lower levels of exposure than other types of medical imaging, the No. 1 environmental -- and generally modifiable -- risk factor for meningioma is exposure to ionizing radiation."

Now remember that fact about "ionizing radiation."

The government study says:

"As with all sources of artificial ionizing radiation, considered use of this modifiable risk factor may be of benefit to patients."

So, the way I see it: I'm staying away from dental x-rays. And apparently--by the number of "hits" you get on the Internet when you search for "Cancer" and "Dental X-Rays"--others feel the same way.

It's a "modifiable risk factor" I'm going to employ.

God help you if you don't

Almost every time I get dental x-rays (once a year), my dentist has a newer x-ray machine that uses lower levels of exposure. It wouldn't surprise me that you don't get more radiation exposure on an average length airplane trip than you do in a dental chair at this point, if your dentist is the type that follows the latest tech trends. However, this is just conjecture, there are also different kinds of radiation, and doing some research would be a good thing. I would start with my dentist and ask about the equipment that they're using, figure out how much exposure you're getting for dental x-rays and go from there. Especially for those of us that are getting up in years (over 50, say), there are problems that can show up on x-rays that will get much worse without using that diagnostic tool before they're found. Like getting a crown on a tooth versus a root canal and a crown, for example. Not everything that's going on with your teeth, gums, etc. is visible on the outside of the teeth and gums.

The newer dental X-Ray machines are suppossed to be safe / safer.
That is why I referenced "some" machines in my 1st post in this topic.

I just object to the too frequent use of them for diagnostic purposes when no real problems are thought to exist.

Yes, they can find some problems you were not aware of by doing dental X-Rays once a year. I just think it is overkill.

I respect the right of any patient to decide which tests and procedures to accept or reject. And for any reason. If a doc doesn't like it, the doc doesn't have to have further dealings with that patient.

However, I also believe that health tests, in general, will always be associated with health problems, in general, since the people with health problems who can afford health care often undergo health tests, for known problems and unknown possible problems. That is why, in my opinion, all such studies looking for such statistical links are flawed even before being undertaken--there is already a perfectly plausible, perhaps obvious, explanation for the "link," and it is one of a nature that is not easily factored out.

Drownings are associated with water. Electrocutions are associated with electricity. I still take showers and use electric appliances. (Although rarely, if ever, at the same time.) In fact, if someone were to print that I should be careful taking a shower because water is closely associated with drownings, or if someone printed that I should be careful using an electric toothbrush because electricity is associated with electrocutions, I would probably laugh. Similarly, when an article "printed" in the Huffington Post implies that I should be careful about getting modern dental X-rays just because artificial ionizing radiation, in general, in high doses, is a known cause of cancer, I similarly tend to grin at the thought process of a "journalist" who not only misunderstood the study but now spawns a myriad Internet links to a badly researched article that happens to have a headline that fools people. In my opinion.

Dental x-rays find serious problems that dentists otherwise would have no way of finding. And people die of infections from preventable root canals too. Just sayin'.

But hey, that's just me. And my thinking isn't always standard. If it were, I would have no place on the Internet.

My wonderful wife is a Registered Dental Hygienist who is the sweet lady that shoots your dental x-rays when you need them. Her former full time office does not require or demand new images every year. They will shoot a new set every two to three years or if they see something suspicious. She now works as a fill in on a part time basis for a myriad of offices when they have a hygienist that is out sick or on vacation. As such she is in dozens of different practices every year.

Dentistry and the equipment has changed so much in the past decade that if you base your opinions on any research that is more than about five years old and is based on legacy equipment then it is suspect at best. 80% or more of the offices she works in have completely retooled very recently. She has not seen but one office still using a film x-ray machine in the past two or three years. They are too expensive and time consuming in today's modern dental environment. Most dental offices are now using all digital x-ray and pantograph equipment along with the complete paperless office environment. The new equipment has such low radiation output I would worry more about exposure to the sun than an occasional dental x-ray. Remember the operators are working with the machines daily for a lifetime of work. It is in their own best interest to limit their own exposure to radiation. With the old machines the back-scatter put them at much higher risk than patients especially considering they might shoot a dozen or more sets a day.

With OSHA requirements tightening up to protect the operators, FDA tightening up to protect the patients and the dental professionals own self interest in protecting themselves over decades of pulling the trigger, x-ray technology has changed significantly. Most of the offices she has worked in replace their technology every five to seven years. Of all the dangers in a dental environment x-rays now are probably your smallest issue of concern.

Cross contamination is where you need to worry. Google search universal barriers in the dental industry. Does your dental hygienist and dentist cover everything they touch with fresh barriers? My wife regloves on average two to four times per patient. That does not count fresh gloves while cleaning her room between patients. If she goes into an office that does not have barriers for the chairs, light fixtures and every piece of equipment she would not go back. Does your dental professionals wear eye protection? The airborne aerosol that is created while scraping calculus and tarter off teeth, especially if a prophy-jet is used, or the amount of blood from root planing that they are exposed to your biggest threat is the person treating you. They should be disinfecting everything from the lights to the drawer handles between patients. Once they bust open their instrument kit and start working if they have to get something non standard out of a drawer its time to re-glove. If they have to go get something from the sterilization room they better change gloves. If when they reach up and adjust the work light, if the handles don't have plastic barriers on them your screwed. Half a dozen light position adjustments per patient while doing a standard cleaning and some blood coming from every mouth, if they are not cleaning that light and then putting fresh barriers on the handles between patients then exposure risk to both patient and care giver is astronomical.

What kind of filtration does your dental offices HVAC have? While one hygienist in one room is blasting away with a prophy-jet on a three pack a day smoker in the next room who has hepatitis and the air conditioner kicks on, is the air from the other room properly filtered before it the return brings it into your room? Unless you have been exposed to the business from the end of the person that went to school for years to learn the trade, does a minimum of 15 hours per year of continuing education per year, takes a mandatory OSHA refresher course every two years, blah, blah, blah you would realize that the x-ray machine is the probably the least dangerous piece of equipment from the patient standpoint! Every patient bleeds and every patient creates airborne particulates. How your dentists office mitigates those two hazards are the largest safety concern the patient and the caregiver have. A modern digital x-ray machine operates at such low radiation now that a yearly set for preventative care is much safer in the long run than ending up having a root canal or other procedure on the dentists side of the practice just based on less chance of exposure to contamination during an average procedure that could have been avoided with early detection. No, I don't get a kickback. In fact I have been trying to get my wife to completely retire for over a decade because I don't want her dragging hepatitis, HIV, or even the flu home from some patient with bad habits and poor oral hygiene. She has cut her work days back to only a few per month and only works in offices that have the utmost anti contamination practices. Back when we needed her working as much as possible to survive she still walked out of some offices before she sat her first patient once she realized how a particular offices safety procedures were or were not handled.

I guess I will stop my rambling rant on this off topic thread because I could go on for pages with different things in the dental environment worse than the x-ray machine. I do have one more tip that not only applies to the dental office but all doctors offices even your sleep doctors which will somewhat pull my mumbling into something that somewhat applies to sleep apnea. Never, ever, pick up the magazines in the waiting room to read while you wait your turn for whichever doctor your seeing. Those magazines being handled by every persons hands washed or not, drug from waiting room to patient rooms and back, sneezed on, and generally laying around for months collecting whatever germ the last 20 readers came to see the doctor for is something to think about at all medical facilities. My smart phone sure has eliminated a lot of the boredom in the waiting room.

And the authoritative studies documenting transmission of infection through waiting-room magazines are . . .

Well, I did find this: http://www.theleakywiki.com/headlines/u ... -room.html

I see my dentist twice a year; he does the bitewings--and FLUORIDE.
A life without natural teeth is not ideal--it is worth the small risk, snd also the moderate expense.
Neglect your teeth--it costs a lot--money, pain, and many related health problems.