Did You Know Why Dentists Take X-rays?

Dentists always try to provide the best possible treatment for your oral health. Dental X-ray is a very important tool that makes the diagnosis and treatment of your dental diseases much more effective and safer.

Dental X-rays are also called radiographs as it requires radiation. Just as patients, dentists too want to minimize patient radiation exposure but still they take X-rays for various reasons. It is because the amount of radiation X-rays expose up to is negligible and poses no possible danger to us. Even after that dentist take added safety measures to further decrease the amount of radiation. Let’s have a look at the reasons dentists take X-rays.

An Essential Diagnostic Tool:

Dental radiographs are an essential diagnostic tool for evaluation of your oral health. Through dental X-rays, your dentist is able to look at each and every detail of your oral cavity to get the most realistic idea of your overall oral health. X-rays can reveal all the portions that are not visible through the naked eye.

X-rays Offer The Whole Picture:

As X-rays can show the tip of the roots to the whole structure of the jawbones, radiographs are important for the diagnosis of decay, periodontal disease, impacted teeth, missing teeth, endodontic problems, cysts, growths and many other abnormalities. Normally, your dentist won’t be able to know if any dental cavity or decay is growing between your teeth or within the gum. But with X-rays, early diagnosis of such problems is very effective. And early diagnosis means early and safe recovery for you.

Dentists Know When You Need It:

Your age, health, individual needs and risk factors all affect how often dental X-rays are taken. So, based on these factors you dentist will determine whether you need a dental X-ray or not.

Life-Saving:

Dentists use X-rays to find cavities, abscesses, tumors and pathology of the teeth and jawbone. If you happen to develop some sort of abscesses or tumors within your gum or surrounding a root of a tooth then there is no other way than having a dental X-ray to determine it as early as possible. Early detection of a tumor can prove to be life-saving for us.

Detects Small Cavities Early On:

X-rays show small cavities that would not be visible until they had gotten very large. This another very important reason why dentists take X-rays. Finding and treating dental problems like cavities early can save you time, money, and pain.

Dental X-rays Are Safe:

Dental X-rays are safe. Any kind of X-ray requires radiation, but with dental X-rays, the amount of radiation is very small. So, you should never worry about having a dental X-ray done. Despite the radiation being minimal, dentists take added measures like wrapping you in leaded aprons and covering your throat with leaded collar to protect your thyroid. Moreover, today’s modern digital X-rays require even much less radiation for exposure than traditional film X-rays do.

So, from now on have a dental X-ray done whenever your dentist asks for it without even a bit of hesitation.