Most dental offices (if not all) are equipped with digital X-rays, which emit up to 90% less radiation than traditional film x-rays. Four bitewing x-rays (taken at a routine dental exam) expose you to .005 mSv of radiation, which is less than one day of natural background radiation. On average, Americans are exposed to about 3 mSv of natural background radiation per year. This background radiation varies according to where you live. People living at higher altitudes (like Colorado) will receive about 1.5 mSv more background radiation than people living at sea level.
Dental x-rays are considered much safer than medical x-rays, because very little radiation is emitted and the radiation is directed towards area of the body that is not as radiosensitive. Just to put things in perspective, a person receiving a CT scan of their chest will be exposed to about 7 mSv of radiation. Four bitewing x-rays emit 1400x less radiation than a CT scan of the chest.
A panoramic x-ray you see in the photo behind me, will expose you to about .007 mSv of radiation. One transatlantic flight equals to about the same amount of radiation as 7 digital panoramic x-rays.
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