Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

Australian here, and I will say that I fully trust my dentist. I have had one tiny cavity in nearly 20 years. X-rays are every 2 years, and it's to see between the teeth where they obviously can't see visually. I've been told the radiation dose is the equivalent of an hour on a plane flight.

I’m just a layperson, but I’ve never been comfortable with that argument. An hour’s worth of radiation concentrated into a moment seems very different to me.

I just think we'd fly to another city, or even internationally for 17 hours, without giving the radiation a second thought. It's just not rational to worry about 1/17 of that dose, once every 2 years, when there is apparently a benefit to oral health. If the dentist wanted to do it every week then that would be something to object to.