Myth Busters for Dental Assistants: X-Rays are Just a Way to Pad the Bill

Patients don’t really need all those x-rays. That’s just how the dentist pads the bill. Right? Wrong! There are several reasons we take many x-rays. Simply put, we can’t see with the naked eye what an x-ray can reveal. They give us a baseline for any future developments. Here’s an example. When my boss’s brother came to visit him after we opened, we got him in for a cleaning and a panoramic x-ray. The pano revealed a mass around no. 32. He sent his brother to an oral surgeon, who told him the cyst was so large he could have broken his jaw just by chewing gum. That’s why we take x-rays!
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We also take x-rays to check for decay between the teeth or under existing fillings, for cysts and tumors, bone loss from periodontal disease (look for baseline and progression), abscesses, the position of adult teeth before eruption, to treatment plan for braces, and to see missing teeth, possibly for dentures or implants...
      
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