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Routine dental X-rays are not backed by evidence

(arstechnica.com)
352 points keithly | 5 comments | 14 Oct 24 21:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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agentultra ◴[15 Oct 24 13:41 UTC] No.41848509[source]▶
I am all for evidence-based medicine making its way into dentristry if it's lacking... but if you're someone who is worried about cumulative exposure to X-ray length radiation, what is the dosage? And can we compare it relative to to say, millimeter scanners at the airport or a domestic flight?

I was under the impression that the digital machines they use these days are:

1. localised 2. very, very low dose

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1. ericmcer ◴[15 Oct 24 15:23 UTC] No.41849555[source]▶
My dentist said something like "it exposes you to less radiation than eating a banana", but she also left the room when the machine was firing.
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2. s1artibartfast ◴[15 Oct 24 15:43 UTC] No.41849748[source]▶
radiation workers practice ALARA, which is an acronym for "as low as reasonably achievable".

Nothing wrong with eating bananas, but I wouldn't want to eat 20 a day for all sorts of reasons.

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3. Night_Thastus ◴[15 Oct 24 16:32 UTC] No.41850313[source]▶
I hate when people bring this up.

Yes, it's an incredibly small amount of radiation for you because you're only in there for one X ray maybe once a year.

For someone who operates the Xray maybe a half dozen times in a day (or more), every day, that number changes dramatically. It's still likely fine, but it's far better to be safe than sorry.

4. rootusrootus ◴[15 Oct 24 16:58 UTC] No.41850584[source]▶
I remember taking my kid for an x-ray of his wrist and the tech lined it all up, and then said "okay, dad and me are going over here while I take the picture." My son immediately wanted to know what the hell we just exposed to him that wasn't safe for us.

In retrospect, the policy should be to let the parent stay. The risk to me is no worse than the risk to my kid. It's easy enough to explain why the tech should go behind a shield.

5. gmarx ◴[15 Oct 24 18:48 UTC] No.41851809[source]▶
I have a friend who was course VI at MIT but also a serious (chemical free) bodybuilder. He told me the story of working summers at a gym and he saw this one guy eating a large number of bananas as he trained. I don't know the number, but it was large enough that it was clearly going to be based on some serious bro science.

So my friend asks for the explanation. Guy asks him "what's the strongest animal?"

The answer (which I would dispute) was 'the gorilla'

"And what do gorillas eat?"