Throughout the world, Dentists recommend regular dental exams, cleanings, and x-rays to every patient to ensure their dental health is maintained in optimal condition. Unfortunately, the dentist’s recommendations are often ignored by people who think brushing and flossing are sufficient for supporting their dental health.
If you are scheduled to visit your dentist for exams and x-rays in Cambridge, ON, you should be happy that the Cambridge dentist performs a comprehensive exam of your mouth, including x-rays. The CDC encourages patients and dentists to discuss treatment options, including the requirement of x-rays, to make appropriate decisions together.
Why Do Dentists Insist on X-Rays When Performing Exams?
Dentists are dental professionals with adequate knowledge of how to treat any conditions with your dental hygiene. When performing exams, the dentist’s role is to identify any issues in your mouth by removing any hindrances present. However, dentists aren’t magicians and cannot look between your teeth and in places where visibility is challenging.
Dental x-rays are an excellent tool to identify cavities between your teeth or in the posterior regions of your mouth. Any issues identified with an x-ray receive prompt treatment before it progresses into an intensive condition. X-rays are a preventive measure to detect various problems in your mouth that may not be visible to the naked eye.
Dentists are authorized to determine how best they should use diagnostic imaging on patients and are fully aware of radiation exposure dangers. To overcome these challenges, the dentists have invested in digital radiography, helping them take a digital x-ray of your mouth during the examination.
What Happens If You Refuse to Have X-Rays Taken?
If you don’t want to provide digital images of your mouth, you expose yourself to the risks of infections developing in your mouth without being detected during dental exams. The infections can progress painlessly into a progressive condition needing intensive treatments eventually.
Digital x-rays from dentists shouldn’t concern you because dental radiologic technology enables efficient communication of electronic information by eliminating the environmental burden of silver and chemicals used to develop x-rays. New technology is continuously introduced to create three-dimensional images of maxillofacial structures for using oral surgery, orthodontics, and endodontics. You are not exposed to any radiation from digital x-rays, but the photos provide comprehensive information of anything wrong with your teeth or oral cavity.
Dentists recommend exams every six months to remove plaque and tartar buildup from your teeth, which are a primary cause of tooth decay and cavities. Digital x-rays make it easier for dentists to identify whether you have tiny holes on your teeth invisible to the naked eye. If you do, the dentists recommend preventive measures to ensure the cavity does not progress. In many cases, early detection of dental issues results in preventative measures like dental sealants application proving beneficial.
However, if the x-ray reveals a cavity in your tooth, the dentist recommends restoring the tooth either with silver amalgam fillings or composite resin. Either way, you benefit from the x-ray and the exam from the dentist as it eliminates a minor problem from aggravating into a major one. Therefore we hope you will not refuse or restrict the dentist from performing the exam recommended by the CDC.
Why Are Dental Exams Essential?
You could be following the dental hygiene practices recommended by your dentist by brushing and flossing your teeth every day. However, are you aware that even the best technique to remove plaque from your teeth is fruitless because your toothbrush cannot reach every nook and corner of your mouth? You could pay special attention to flossing your teeth, thinking you are going everything possible to maintain excellent dental hygiene. However, there is something you are overlooking that we like to explain.
While making every effort to remove all plaque on and between your teeth, the chances of a few specks remaining undetected are high. A bit of plaque hardens into tartar within 48 hours and cannot be removed by brushing and flossing. Dentists invite you for professional cleanings to detect these very instances and to prevent a significant issue from developing in your mouth. An x-ray only helps them provide you quality treatment. Dentists only recommend x-rays once a year and not during every exam, and in any case, the charges for the x-ray are included in the fees you pay for the dental visit. Therefore you must not be concerned about dental exams or x-rays whenever your dentist recommends them.
