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Dental X-rays increase the risk of brain cancer
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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X-rays are currently considered the most reliable, but also the most dangerous diagnostic method. However, despite the fact that the effect of radiation on a patient in medicine has now become minimal, it is not recommended to do dental X-rays very often.
American scientists have come to the conclusion that people who frequently have their jaws x-rayed by a dentist are at greater risk of developing a meningioma, a benign tumor that grows from the arachnoid membrane of the brain.
The study was conducted by a team of neurosurgeons led by Dr. Elizabeth Claus from the Yale Institute, who presented the results of their research in the journal Cancer.
The research was conducted by Elizabeth Klaus and her colleagues since 2006: a total of 1,443 people with meningioma disease underwent the test, the age of the patients ranged from 20 to 79 years. In addition, 1,350 healthy people who needed to visit a dentist's X-ray room, but did not have meningioma, participated in the research.
The highest risk of developing meningioma is for people who have had at least one panorex - an X-ray of the entire oral cavity. In this group of people, meningioma was found 3 times more often than in people who did not visit the X-ray room. The highest risk of this disease is for children under 10 years of age. Researchers also call the medical equipment used in dental X-rays a significant factor. New X-ray machines cause the least harm to humans.
According to scientists, in order to minimize the risk of meningioma, it is necessary to minimize visits to the X-ray room. At the same time, the usual procedure of X-ray of the whole mouth is recommended with the following frequency of implementation: for children under 10 years old - no more than once for 1-2 years, for schoolchildren and teenagers - once for 1.5-3 years, and for adults - no more than once every 2-3 years.
Meningioma is considered a benign tumor. It grows quite slowly and is not considered to be such a dangerous threat to the human body. Although in some cases it leads to disability and almost 100% loss of ability to work