One of the most popular questions people ask when calling a new dentist office is, are those x-rays really necessary? The answer usually is yes, based on several factors; the individual patient, age, risk factor for dental disease, and length of time since last dental visit. Dr Ligon recommends all initial patient relationships begin with a complete set of x-rays. Dr. Ligon always welcomes transferred x-rays from previous dental offices. These x-rays are more valuable, if they are current.
Most dental insurance plans cover x-rays at 100% within normal plan benefits. Your insurance may vary depending on the individual plan you have.
The series of x-rays Dr. Ligon’s office performs is called a full mouth series consisting of 18 films taken inside the patients mouth. A panoramic x-ray is also taken to look at the mouth as a whole. These x-rays are an excellent tool for most dental diagnoses.
Most dental offices recommends the average patient have a complete set of x-rays every 3 to 5 years. There after, a set of decay disclosing x-rays are recommended each year. These consist of 4 x-rays taken inside your mouth, usually at your cleaning and oral evaluation appointment. Children may require more x-rays than an adult, as they are developing and changing dentally.
Dental x-rays are a very important diagnostic tool that allows your dentist to evaluate your oral health. Declining dental x-rays can be very damaging to your overall dental health. As time progress so does dental problems. The following are some of the things that x-rays can diagnosis:
- Decay that may be under an existing filling or crown
- Cracks or damage to existing restorations
- Bone loss associated with periodontal disease
- Infection in or around the root of a tooth
- Recurring problems with root canal treated tooth
- Orthodontic care and recommendations to be treated for crowding
- Missing teeth/extra teeth
- Diagnose teeth replacement, with implants, bridges, partial or full dentures.
- 3rd molar / wisdom teeth health.
- Reveals pathological abnormalities such as bone discrepancies, cysts, cancer .
Radiation exposure from dental x-rays is minimal. As you can see from this Chart from the American Dental Association, dental radiation exposure is quite low compared to other x-rays in the medical field, and everyday exposure to the atmosphere.
The table below compares our estimated exposure to radiation from dental X-ray with other various sources. As indicated below, a millisievert (mSv) is a unit of measure that allows for some comparison between radiation sources that expose the entire body (such as natural background radiation) and those that only expose a portion of the body (such as X-rays).
| Source | Estimated Exposure (mSv) |
| Man MadeDental X-raysBitewing radiographs Full-mouth series |
0.038 0.150 |
| Medical X-raysLower gastrointestinal tract radiography Upper gastrointestinal tract radiography Chest radiograph |
4.060 2.440 0.080 |
| NaturalCosmic (Outer Space) RadiationAverage radiation from outer space In Denver, CO (per year) | 0.510 |
| Earth and Atmospheric RadiationAverage radiation in the U.S. from Natural sources (per year) | 3.000 |
Source: Adapted from Frederiksen NL. X-Rays: What is the Risk? Texas Dental Journal. 1995;112(2):68-72.