How often do you have your teeth X-rayed?

I hate articles like that. “Dental x-rays have been implicated in…”
“People who have had dental x-rays have had brain tumors…”
Yes and these people also brushed their teeth, ate eggs, drank water or whatever. This is just a scare tactic and if there is no conclusive evidence, it shouldn’t be written.
I get dental x-rays every six months. I have since I was a child. So far, no brain tumors!

Our insurance company will only pay for x-rays once a year, so I limit mine to that.

When I was in the UK, my dentist used to do X-Rays every time I went to the dentist (about every six months). My Australian dentist (who recently retired :-( ) never does them. I think he has done one in years. I asked him about it. He said he only uses them when he feels he needs the additional information they can provide. Mostly he said he can see what he needs to know and he doesn’t like to use them without a reason. He could charge me for doing them. So it would be to his benefit to do them.

I don’t have any holes in my teeth. I have never left the dentist and then found a cavity has been missed.

Once per year at most, and I have on a full apron & a thyroid protector when they take them that’s their policy

The current trend is to go for targeted mini x-rays of individual teeth as opposed to the full mouth job. With the mini x-rays the dose is so small as to not be worth worrying about. Having said that you really shouldn’t be having anything x-rayed unless you really need to.

The study was based off of the patient’s memories of being scanned, not the actual dental records of the person. This brings in the effect of observation bias, and reduces the conclusiveness of the study.

My husband and I see our dentist twice a year and get full mouth X-rays every 2 years. Between the 2 of us, we have 3 cavities and no gum problems. I have a feeling the X-ray frequency may be based on your dental health and insurance regs.

I can’t imagine needing X-ray more than once a year .. unless your dental situation is tentative.

Once every 2–3 years. When I hit 50 I might go to once a year.

I believe in limiting exposure to xrays. I just had an accident and was super scanned, CT from my head to my pelvis. I am glad I haven’t been getting lots of xrays my whole life, cause you never know when you are going to really need xrays done.

Anyone who says xrays are no big deal, there is radiation in our every day lives pisses me off. No, we do not have that much radiation in one day directed at one area of our body.

Life is filled with risks and we have to balance the risks with the benefits. We can’t stay hold up in a lead lined capsule all our lives. A x-country flight or sun bathing will likely expose you more to X-Rays than a dental exposure.

But to answer your question, they take X-Rays of my teeth twice a year during the cleanings. Recently I had a tooth implant in which two full face X-Rays were taken prior to the procedure and 7 single X-Rays were taken during the implant procedure.

My dentist takes x-rays about every 2 years. I’m not concerned about the cancer possibility. I’ve had it and it no longer frightens me. My teeth are probably the strongest part of my physiognomy . . . long sturdy roots and they’ll probably last the rest of my life, Dr. K says. I’ve had only occasional need for anything but cleaning. It’s a good thing because I’m really don’t relish the idea of needing any more drilling.

Those of you being zapped twice a year, how many of you have had the dentist see a problem on xray he could not see with his own eyes that needed treatment? I realize some people have a lot of tooth problems, so they need the xrays, but the average person is probably xrayed for 20 years with nothing that needs treatment. I made that stat up, but most cavities are seen by looking in someone’s mouth I think. Other problems tend to have symptoms. As we get older things start to fall apart a little, then it might make sense to xray more. I really think xrays are mostly a way to make some money, and the medical establishment llikes to think xrays don’t harm anyone. If you have dental insurance I encourage you to think about if you paid for the xrays every time, would you do them that often?

@JLeslie My dentist showed me (on an x-ray film) decay under the edges of a crown. He pointed out a darker zone that was not present on any of the other crowns. I’m no expert at interpreting x-ray films of teeth so I trusted him. When he removed the crown he discovered the there was too much decay to replace the crown and the tooth had to be extracted. I chose to have an implant to replace the diseased tooth.

Is it possible that my dentist is taking advantage of me? I suppose. I doubt it because the excellent care that he has given me over the last 8 years.

@gondwanalon You have a crown. I have nothing of the sort. The majority of people under 40 I would bet have 0–3 cavaties, and that is the extent of their tooth problems. For you the xray yearly makes sense.

The only time I ever give permission to take x-rays is when I change dentists. I also would do so if I felt that there was a problem.

I’m finished getting $50 each X-rays from the gold digger up the street. He has a huge new building to pay for with all the new equipment and his new partner. Last time I went he couldn’t help me with what I went in for whatever that was . So he sent his little blond girl into the room alone to say, “Dr Smith likes to get X-rays when his patients come in” so like an idiot I let her do it. Then she said, “oh, one of them didn’t take. We’ll have to do that one over again.” That is the last time I roll over and obey when some young, permed haired girl tells me “the doctor likes.” $280 and he didn’t do a thing. Oh-then when I was paying , his receptionist , when asked if I should get insurance said, “oh, no; insurance isn’t worth the premiums.” Isn’t worth extra work for her is what she meant.

^Change dentists. Mine doesn’t act like that.

I intend to go back to my “old” one. The one up the street is four miles away. The old one, the one I trust, is at least fifteen miles from here. So with him I’m looking at practically an entire day in the car plus inside his office.

@Aster Where the heck do you live? Are you walking a trail up hill, both ways to make a 15 mile trip last all day? Lol.