You can reduce the risk of cavities. X-ray technology was invented in Germany, where I live, and they have had a history of regulating its use. I have my teeth checked twice a year and have never been asked to get an x-ray. This is in contrast to my experiences growing up in the American continent, where, despite all the x-rays, I developed a lot of cavities. Using an electric toothbrush, buying toothpaste with a small amount of fluoride and flossing twice a day have been effective for me in drastically reducing the risk of cavities and obviating the need for x-rays (a diet change may have also helped). That despite my teeth being so tightly packed I destroy dental floss. I think I’ve only had a cavity once in the last ten years and it was picked up early during a scheduled check up and dealt with promptly.
I also came here to say that I’ve never had a dentist even suggest an x-ray in the course of a routine checkup (living in Finland). The only time I recall having had one taken was when I had an issue of grinding my teeth while sleeping, and they did some extra investigation.
Interesting. A quick search of dental outcomes by country turns up Evaluation of different oral care systems: Results for Germany and selected highly developed countries. An update of a former study. I only have time to read the abstract right now, but it does call out the Netherlands and Finland as having somewhat worse outcomes on the measure they’ve created, which is: “an expanded composite indicator that measures dental health on a population basis in the form of one overall indicator – the Dental Health Index (DHI). If the DHI is combined with a Dental Care Cost Index (DCCI), an efficiency index [is created]”
You can reduce the risk of cavities. X-ray technology was invented in Germany, where I live, and they have had a history of regulating its use. I have my teeth checked twice a year and have never been asked to get an x-ray. This is in contrast to my experiences growing up in the American continent, where, despite all the x-rays, I developed a lot of cavities. Using an electric toothbrush, buying toothpaste with a small amount of fluoride and flossing twice a day have been effective for me in drastically reducing the risk of cavities and obviating the need for x-rays (a diet change may have also helped). That despite my teeth being so tightly packed I destroy dental floss. I think I’ve only had a cavity once in the last ten years and it was picked up early during a scheduled check up and dealt with promptly.
The German Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (yep, there is one) offers this booklet to keep track of your exposures and ensure you do not exceed a threshold: https://www.bfs.de/EN/topics/ion/medicine/diagnostics/x-rays/record-card.html . Maybe it will be useful to you
I also came here to say that I’ve never had a dentist even suggest an x-ray in the course of a routine checkup (living in Finland). The only time I recall having had one taken was when I had an issue of grinding my teeth while sleeping, and they did some extra investigation.
Interesting. A quick search of
dental outcomes by countryturns up Evaluation of different oral care systems: Results for Germany and selected highly developed countries. An update of a former study. I only have time to read the abstract right now, but it does call out the Netherlands and Finland as having somewhat worse outcomes on the measure they’ve created, which is: “an expanded composite indicator that measures dental health on a population basis in the form of one overall indicator – the Dental Health Index (DHI). If the DHI is combined with a Dental Care Cost Index (DCCI), an efficiency index [is created]”I too want to say that my dentist never even suggested getting an x-ray during a routine check up.
I’ve had a dental x-ray once but it was when looking into a specific problem.
I didn’t have any cavities in years. Back when I had cavities dentist found them by looking at my teeth no x-ray needed.