Dr. Katie To explains why dentists take X-rays: they catch hidden cavities and early demineralization that visual exams miss. Modern digital X-rays emit radiation comparable to a cell phone, and AI software can detect reversible enamel damage before it becomes decay.
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 got these questions every single day. So I am a patient myself. I have two children. And I can tell you, as much daily brushings we have at home, I cannot tell if they have cavities or not without looking at x-rays. So yes, I do have x-ray taking on my kid. I have x-ray taking 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. It's so crucial now with AI, especially we have AI in our radiology software. So we actually can see if the demineralization or starting of a cavity is 100% in enamel, which is reversible. 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? So 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. Being able to see with the X-ray is really— guides us to be more minimal invasive and reverse things. So that's helped. With also the digital X-ray these days is so safe. It actually— I tell people that come in with the cell phone on them, they actually put the cell phone in their pocket all the time. I said, you have more radiation carrying that phone and flying from one city to the other than than having this x-rays done. It is very low radiations, it's minimal, it's safe, and it saves you extra procedure and extra problem in dentistry if you get it done and really have a good protocol when to take it. In our office, we have a very clear radiology protocol. If the patient have a low caries risk, then how frequent do we get it? If the patient have a high caries risk, what are we monitoring? So no, I can't see a new patient without x-rays, and we know exactly what x-ray to prescribe. It's not like everyone had the same images taken, and if they need 3D CBCT is something that we had to prescribe and talk to radiologist and discuss the report with them.
