WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DOZENIST
Dental x-rays may increase one’s risk of developing meningioma, a usually benign type of brain tumor that affects some 7 in 100,000 Americans per year, reported The Huffington Post.
Dental x-rays, traditionally taken on an annual basis to check for cavities, expose patients to ionizing radiation, a known risk factor for meningiomas. The study, published online today (April 10) in Cancer, examined the correlation between dental x-rays and meningioma in a survey of more than 1,400 people diagnosed with meningioma and 1,350 tumor-free controls. The researchers recorded the age and frequency of bitewing x-rays, which visualize the back teeth, full-mouth series, and panoramic x-rays, which show the whole mouth cavity in one image, and found that meningioma patients were more likely to have had yearly ...
