CT scan radiation linked to cancers, deaths

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Permalink Reply by Robert Hays on December 15, 2009 at 6:19pm

From the research that I have seen, radiation exposure from dental specific CT scans begin around 70 microsieverts. For a point of reference, we are all exposed to around 7 uSv every day. A traditional non-digital full mouth series exposes the patient to over 80 uSv. It is still a relatively new technology in the dental world, and I'm sure the discussion is just getting started.
Good selling!

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Permalink Reply by Ricklin on December 29, 2009 at 11:47am

It's very important to understand the differences between a medical CT and a dental cone beam scan. They are worlds apart dosage wise. Yes they are both a "CT" (computed tomography) A medical type CT employs a fan beam with higher radiation dosage, today's dental CT employs a cone beam with much lower radiation dosage. 70 uSv is about right for a dental cone beam as an average. Some are far lower than that, some are far higher. Dosage is mostly dependent on the field of view. It's also very important to understand the dosage scale.
1000 Microsieverts (uSv) = 1 Millisievert (mSv)
Our average background radiation that we are all exposed to is approx. 3 mSv per year or 7-8 uSv daily.
From a standpoint of radiation safety for our average dental implant patient they are better off with a dentist that owns his own cone beam machine vs. the dentist that sends that patient out for a medical CT.
IMHO the patient that is most likely to question the radiation dosage in a dental office is on their way to the beach to sunbathe, or about to hop on a plane for a coast to coast trip.

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