Dental X-rays and Brain Tumor

​Lately there has been a lot of concerns about dental x-rays and the brain tumor, meningioma. First, please let me just reassure my patients that the office does not use conventional x-rays. We have digital x-rays, which uses only a fraction of conventional film x-rays. Second, in today's world and economy, most dental offices don't have more than one panoramic (full view of the mouth) x-ray taken but every 5 years. It's because your insurance dictates it. Most patients just have the annual bitewing x-rays until some problems arise. Then we take periapical x-rays to diagnose for infections/fractures.
The patients that were surveyed in the research were answering questions based on their memory of dental visits. Of almost 2 decades in dentistry (because I started young), I don't know any dentists that would take annual panoramic x-rays. The rules have changed over the past 2 decades. The dental community is very vocal about patient safety and well-being. As you continue to read the articles all over the internet, please remember that we all try to do our best for our patients. No ethical doctors out there intentionally harm their patients. We want you to live a healthy life, that's why we're in the healthcare profession. Healthy body starts with a healthy mouth.
But the decision to take x-rays or not still lies with you, our patients. We can only make recommendations, not demands, on what to do to assist you on your dental care. Most of you guys know I don't make demands. I just gently request. :) Enjoy.