Nov. 3, 2023 – Wearing a heavy lead apron is no longer necessary during routine dental X-rays, a professional dental radiology group has concluded. Potential exposure of other body parts to what scientists call “external radiation scatter” is no longer a health threat because modern dental X-ray technology is safer.Nov 3, 2023.
Is a lead apron required to be worn by the patient during any radiographic exposure?
Radiation protection to patient It is recommended to protect the thyroid, breast and gonads in children and young adults. Lead apron should be placed to protect the gonads from primary beam radiation exposure; lead collar should be provided to cover patient's neck and thorax to shield thyroid and breast..
What is an alternative to a lead apron?
A lead-free apron (LFA) is an apron made of a blend of attenuating heavy metals other than lead (Pb) and is a lightweight and non-toxic alternative to the traditional lead apron. These metals are usually some combination of aluminum, antimony, barium, bismuth, tin, titanium, or tungsten..
Why is a lead apron necessary?
Protection From Radiation Exposure Lead aprons are protective garments that have been designed to shield the body from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation during medical imaging procedures..
Medical experts now know that shielding patients' reproductive organs during routine imaging exams is not only unnecessary, it can actually increase the risk for radiation exposure, said Robert Reiman, MD, a radiation risk specialist at Duke Health.
Radiation protection to patient It is recommended to protect the thyroid, breast and gonads in children and young adults. Lead apron should be placed to protect the gonads from primary beam radiation exposure; lead collar should be provided to cover patient's neck and thorax to shield thyroid and breast.
Ditching the lead apron could actually reduce the amount of radiation exposure a person has. That's because sometimes, the apron's collar can interfere with getting a clear shot, requiring a second take and, thus, doubling the radiation exposure.
Nov. 3, 2023 – Wearing a heavy lead apron is no longer necessary during routine dental X-rays, a professional dental radiology group has concluded.
The organization has recommended that lead aprons and thyroid shields do not need to be used routinely for dental X-rays.
Are lead aprons still needed for dental X-rays?
As technology has advanced, dental x-ray machines can now produce high-quality diagnostic imaging with a minimal amount of radiation exposure to patients
This has led to an intense and controversial debate of whether or not lead aprons are still needed for dental x-rays
Do you need a lead apron if you have an abdominal shield?
Therefore, use of abdominal shielding may not be necessary
” Furthermore, high quality medical reviews and research studies have determined that there are no statistically significant differences in the amount of radiation absorbed in the body with or without a lead apron
Should dental X-rays be shielded?
About half of the X-rays completed in the U
S each year are done in dentists’ offices, not doctors’ offices
Shielding is less likely to interfere with a dental X-ray, or even be necessary for it
It seems logical that dentists would be willing to adopt new guidelines about shielding, but they were left out of the push to change the status quo
Perhaps more prevalent, dental X-rays that use radiation can cause nausea in patients when a lead apron is not worn. Also, headaches and a fever may form if dental X-rays are given without the use of a protective lead apron. When is a lead apron not necessary?
The report states that lead aprons are not required if all recommendations are followed because radiation doses to the reproductive region have decreased due to advances in dental radiography. However, individual states may still require lead aprons and, therefore, must be used during intraoral and extraoral radiographic examinations.
,The controversy on this issue started in 2003 when a report from The National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurement (NCRP)
Dental x ray without lead apron
Type of radiation protection
Lead shielding refers to the use of lead as a form of radiation protection to shield people or objects from radiation so as to reduce the effective dose. Lead can effectively attenuate certain kinds of radiation because of its high density and high atomic number; principally, it is effective at stopping gamma rays and x-rays.
