Dental X-rays for Your Children?

I get the X-rays for my kids. It's the only way to monitor what is going on below the jaw line (with the incoming teeth), and it can catch some cavities much early than just the oral exam - sometimes early enough that they don't need to drill, just fill (that's happened to me a couple of times).
They take plenty of precautions - the kids get to wear those fashionable lead aprons (lol) and the radiation for modern X-rays is really not a huge amount, less than it used to be iirc. I believe that the benefits outweigh any risks.

I am having it done for my 3 year old because 2 of his baby teeth grew in fused together and they want to see how it will affect his adult teeth. They let me wait so I could add him to my insurance this year and they will cover all dental exams and xrays once a year. So I figured we'll keep doing it from here on.

We get X-rays every year. That is the only true way the dentist can check to see if the upcoming teeth are growing correctly, if they show any signs of issues, to see if there are cavities in areas that the eye can't see, etc...I can't imagine not making sure their teeth have the best care possible.

They should be done things can show up on them that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Hi Robin,

Speaking as a woman who was radiated regularly as a kid I would say that yearly exrays for the mouth are not a neccessity. Things usually appear slowly in the mouth and unless you have a family history of issues or your kids have been on multiple meds that would cause an issue, postponing or doing it less regularly should be fine. My girls (15 and 18) had exrays twice. My 18 year old needed braces because of two impacted teeth and the exrays showed it. She was 13 at the time. (The dentist actually missed it and I saw a shadow so we pursued more exrays further up in the mouth).

My two cents....

M.

I always did it per ther Dr recommendation for our daughter, now 16. She has a perfect set of teeth thanks to good genes and good preventative care.

I err on the side of finding out if something is sight unseen and then finding out too late if there is an issue. It's really not that big of a deal.... some people just try to make it a bigger deal than it is.

Why wouldn't you want the best care for your child's teeth?

.

Does he have some sort of tooth issues that would warrent x-rays so often? My kids are only x-rayed every few years.