Is it possible to get a teeth cleaning without xray's? (painful, cost)
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They stand in another room because otherwise they'd be exposed to radiation dozens of times every day. They don't only take one x-ray of one person once a year. They take x-rays of patients all day long. Your risk of ANYTHING as result of having x-rays once a year is - well about the same as your risk the same illnesses if you never had any of those x-rays at all.
THEIR risk of anything as a result of exposure to x-rays all day long is probably minimal - but still significant enough that they would make some attempt to avoid it. Afterall, they can't really do their job wearing a lead vest like they give you for the x-rays you get while you're laying down in a recliner.
If you don't get x-rays, and all they do is a surface cleaning, then you've just profited them with an unneccessary procedure. Good for them, pointless for you. They're not going to detect a bad tooth, or bone loss, or an eruption under the gumline, with a surface cleaning.
The good news, is - well - it's on their side again. Because the longer you go without any x-rays, the more likely you are to develop serious and COSTLY problems as a result of neglecting to check once every year or two.
Mechanics don't wave equipment over your car to see if anything is wrong, because mechanics do oil changes (the equivalent of a full blood transfusion), wheel rotations (the equivalent of foot transplants), valve checks (the equivalent of open-heart surgery), and belt replacements (the equivalent of muscle stim treatments), all without a drop of anasthesia.
The problem with teeth, is you don't know there's a problem without x-rays, until it's too late. X-rays can see eruptions under the gumline. By the time it comes up to the surface, it's already a full-blown abscess and now you're looking at the potential for a root canal, or extraction, and definitely a course of antibiotics. AND x-rays, because no dentist who values his license will touch those kinds of treatments without x-rays. Unlike a mechanic, a dentist can't just pop your teeth and gums off your jawbone and take a peek under the hood for any signs of trouble. So until that becomes a medical reality, we're stuck with x-rays.
So you would've saved yourself a whole heap of trouble by getting full-mouth x-rays once every second year, and a set of bitewings on the alternate years.
They stand in another room because otherwise they'd be exposed to radiation dozens of times every day. They don't only take one x-ray of one person once a year. They take x-rays of patients all day long. Your risk of ANYTHING as result of having x-rays once a year is - well about the same as your risk the same illnesses if you never had any of those x-rays at all.
Blah, blah, blah. .
I just love the smug condescension that comes up all the time with this topic wherever I go where people feel the need to lecture someone simply because they don't want to be zapped with radiation just for the benefit of having a simple professional teeth cleaning.
I realize there are those like you that want to lecture, lecture, lecture and have a debate. Apparently, there is no room for someone who simply wants a cleaning but I guess you feel better for having drone on repeating something all of us have heard countless times. ZZZZ
You can have a cleaning. Right after the dentist has checked your x-rays to make sure that he doesn't try to clean a hot-spot and send you screaming for your lawyer for malpractice.
Or, you can find a dentist whose lawyer is better than yours, because he makes his living off of suckers who demand no x-rays, and return for the extractions, root canals, deep root planing, and all the other procedures that they need now, because they didn't take that preventative step in getting x-rays done at least once every other year.
The digital x-rays my office uses now seem to be a step back. Not only do they have to take more shots, but the sensor is massive compared to the analog bitewings.
I just had my twice-yearly cleaning last week. I asked about getting a Panoramic set, because it's been 7 years since I've had one (it's a special full-mouth camera that does the entire mouth in a single shot and gives a panoramic view of the mouth). She said that I'd had a full set of x-rays done only 2 years ago, and they recommend either a full set OR a panoramic only once every 5 years, with only individual tooth x-rays/bitewings as needed, when I come in for my cleaning.
I've run into this problem often. If X-rays weren't dangerous they wouldn't go stand in another room while they are being performed. I've had about 42 years worth of x-rays and I recall one time, as a kid, that something was found on an x-ray. That's it. They expose us to all this possible exposure for a 1 in 42 chance of finding something?
What I do is just go to the dentist and while sitting in the chair tell them that I can't afford Xrays or don't want them. I get the usual push-back. My favorite is: "Well, we'll check with Dr to make sure this is permissible." Permissible? I'm the patient and I'm a free person. You can't force me down and make me take them. What if it's not "permissible?" You are going to have me get up and leave? Not hardly. It has never happened.
Don't ask permission. Ask forgiveness once you are there. Just refuse the x-rays on-site. They will make you feel like an idiot, say things like "insurance will cover it." Just stand firm and politely refuse.
No other doctor I go to takes Xrays of things that don't hurt to see if there is something wrong. No mechanic waves equipment all over my car just to see if anything is wrong. People on here may say that these are a must but it's just silly.
I think regardless of whether one gets x-rays every year or no x-rays, it should be the informed decision of the patient, NOT the dentist office. The patients are the customers, NOT the dentists. IT is OUR money for the cleaning, OUR insurance company and OUR mouths. In this I am NOT saying that I am more educated in the matter than the dentist, but after all is said and done, it is MY mouth. I ultimately have to live with it. If the dentist wants to refuse me, so be it, I will find someone else.
People on here may say that these are a must but it's just silly.
Have to agree with this. If you DO NOT get x-rays you run the risk of NOT detecting a deep hidden problem. Still that should be YOUR decision whether people think it is stupid or not. Without going off the subject, we have gotten to the point in society where we "trust the salesperson" too much and simply throw all the decisions in their lap that we ourselves should have been making or at least pondering.
I think regardless of whether one gets x-rays every year or no x-rays, it should be the informed decision of the patient, NOT the dentist office. The patients are the customers, NOT the dentists. IT is OUR money for the cleaning, OUR insurance company and OUR mouths. In this I am NOT saying that I am more educated in the matter than the dentist, but after all is said and done, it is MY mouth. I ultimately have to live with it. If the dentist wants to refuse me, so be it, I will find someone else.
People on here may say that these are a must but it's just silly.
Have to agree with this. If you DO NOT get x-rays you run the risk of NOT detecting a deep hidden problem. Still that should be YOUR decision whether people think it is stupid or not. Without going off the subject, we have gotten to the point in society where we "trust the salesperson" too much and simply throw all the decisions in their lap that we ourselves should have been making or at least pondering.
Another risk of not getting an x-ray, is the dentist unable to complete a cleaning because he hit a cavity that is deep enough to go all the way down into the nerve, when he was using his tartar scraper juuuuuusttt.. under the gumline, where his eyes can't see what's there.
If that cavity is that bad now, it usually means it's had LOTS of time to fester. A bitewing a year ago would've caught it, and the dentist would've been able to fill it, thus preventing it from getting worse.
A responsible dentist would tell you "well let's see - your last x-ray was two years ago, and you haven't had even so much as a bitewing since. If you aren't willing to let me do my job by ensuring that I don't cause more damage by giving you a cleaning, then I'm not willing to do the cleaning." and send you on your way.
You won't know the whole story. Your dentist can only give you part of the information that he sees from looking at your teeth and gums. But under the surface, there may be more problems and they will only worsen if neglected. Two thirds of your tooth is under the gum tissue and can't be seen clinically. With x-rays, the dentist can take care of the disease process earlier, so it will be less costly than if you had waited. Dental disease can harm your health, cause strokes and heart attacks, if left undiagnosed and untreated.
X-rays have been tested as to human impact and levels have been set...But,,,no one knows about what hidden impact they have over the long run....We see a lot of overweigh people today and an increase of dementia diseases. Just what causes these and other mass changes of health are not known. Best practice for an individual is to limit unnecessary exposure to anything thats in question...Anything electrical in nature is suspect..ie. cellphones......
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