Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

anecdote on their usefulness. I recently had my yearly inspection, _without_ xrays (which she said it was probably about time for "next time"). A month later, I had pain in a rear molar, and went for a checkup. They reacted "that is not good, because that tooth is root-treated - no nerves, so pain from a place without nerves is not good". They then did an xray, which revealed the tooth had started rotting - a lot - inside, from below. They advised extraction - now a week ago. It turned out the tooth had a hidden fracture in the roots. It was not visible on the xrays - only its hollowing result - but evident once the tooth was out; it came out in two pieces. Just an anecdote, but this would be caught by the 2-3 year xray, and because of the missing nerve, it was pretty bad/serious when I finally felt it myself. I'm not advocating the yearly xray, but the semi-annual makes sense to me.

My dentist gives me x-rays every two years, and I have checkups every 6 months to check for things like newly forming cavities, inflammation, decay, etc (nothing ever found so far, apart from some minor cavities as a child). It always struck me as prudent.

Tradeoffs.