Radiation Concerns

Dr. Kakos’ Practice has always taken extreme precautions when it comes to radiation, never taking radiographs that aren’t truly necessary.

In his 23 yrs of practice, his safety protocol has always been above the industry standard.

Now with digital radiography at Dr. Kakos and Associate’s dental office, radiation exposure is even less.

Utilizing top of the line DEXIS Platinum Diagnostic Imaging for Interproximal X-ray (Bite Wing), Periapical X-ray and 3D Digital Scanner from Sirona.

The following tables give dose estimates for a typical diagnostic x-ray, interventional, and nuclear medicine procedures. Many diagnostic exposures are less than or similar to the exposure we receive from natural background radiation. For comparison, in the United States, each person receives about 3.0 milliSieverts (300 millirems) of radiation exposure from background sources every year. The effective dose listed is a comparable whole-body dose from the exam. The effective dose is given in mSv (an international unit of radiation measurement) and mrem (the traditional unit used in the United States).

Table 1). Typical Effective Radiation Dose from Diagnostic Xray – Single Exposure (Mettler 2008)

Table 2). This table shows the dose a patient could receive if undergoing an entire procedure that may be diagnostic or interventional. For example, a lumbar spine series usually consists of five x-ray exams. (Mettler 2008)

Note: Digital radiography can reduce the amount of radiation to as much as 80% lower than these reported doses, so one dental film equals 0.001 mSv (0.1mrem)

source: dentalbuzz.com, Health Magazine (April 2014 issue)