Let's talk about dental radiographs (x-rays) for just a minute. Patients are often faced with the prospect of having new x-rays taken. Sometimes It may seem that they were JUST taken at your last visit. This is when dentists are charged with the task of educating patients on the value of up-to-date x-rays. X-rays are a valuable diagnostic tool for dentists to have in order to confidently diagnose oral health concerns. These images show us much more than meets the eye. A single image can show us worn/broken/missing/decayed teeth, bone levels and health of bone, infections, tumors, cysts, tooth resorption, signs of tooth pulp health and jaw problems. As a new patient to our office, you will be asked to either request up-to-date x-rays from your previous dentist OR we will be happy to take new ones for you.
The definition of "diagnosis" is The process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury from its signs and symptoms. X-rays are needed in the venture to fully identifying disease and conditions. This information is quintessential to our ability to treat your oral conditions in the most timely manner possible.
X-ray frequency is recommended in the below intervals. These recommendation based on data from the American Dental Association and is based on the individual patient's cavity risk. Here is a table of the recommendations the full article can be found by clicking on below image.
Let's take this example to drive our point home. A patient had bitewing x-rays at her previous office in 2020. For one reason or another the x-rays were not updated at the regular interval of every 1-2 years per the ADA recommendations. As a new patient to our office, we took updated x-rays. What we thought was going to be straight foward was anything but...
Can you discern the difference?
It is subtle in the first x-ray but a definite WOW on the second one. The fourth tooth on the upper from the left - it is what we call root resorption. In the first case, had it been radiographed more often and also had a different angle taken (showing the root too as in a full mouth series) there was a potential for successful treatment for this tooth. By the time the patient came to see us in 2024, the resorptive area was so large there was no saving the tooth. Now, the lack of x-rays could be for multiple factors, but this example just shows how vital regular radiographic exams are.
As you can see X-rays are a vital source of information for your dentist. So, Please know that we are doing everything we can to minimize the exposure to radiation and keep you safe in order for us to have these important images (a topic for another blog!). However, we need to have both eyes open to any dental concerns you may be experiencing and x-rays do that for us. Dentists are not trying to gouge your pocket book. We are in fact doing what you ask us to do when you walk through our door, find the problems that you don't know are there and fix them before they become big issues.
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