Dr. Katie To explains why dentists take routine X-rays: they catch cavities between teeth and early decay that you can't see. Modern digital X-rays use minimal radiation and let dentists treat problems before they reach the nerve, avoiding bigger procedures later.
When patients come to see you as a new patient, do you take x-rays like normal dentists? And aren't those bad for you? I have 2 children, and I can tell you as much daily brushings we have at home, cannot tell if they have cavities or not without looking at x-rays. I have x-rays taken on myself on the regular schedule once a year for me. And the reason is we can see bone and we can actually see If any demineralization happened between the teeth. Without the x-ray, how do we know which one reversible? And the one that not reversible, we can really address it when it's small, when it's not taking a lot of tooth structure away, when it's not close to the nerve and you have to wonder, is my nerve infected? Number one, legally, we have to see. You don't want to work on someone and not knowing what you go in, what you're going to see because everyone have different anatomy. So being able to see with the X-ray is really guide us to be more minimal invasive and reverse things. That's help with also the digital X-ray these days is safe. It's minimal, it's safe, and it save you extra procedure and extra problem in dentistry if you get it done.
