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/sci/ - Science & Math

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4810677 No.4810677 [Reply] [Original]

Can x-ray radiation, for example from a dental office machine, cause brain damage?

>> No.4810682

Being completely real right now, I'm often insanely paranoid about this when I get X-rays.

>> No.4810693

>>4810677
Same here. My fear is intensely ecaberated by the fact that I get several x-rays a year. Until I move out of my house this will likely prevail, as my parents are typical "health-paranoid" Americans (despite being physically unfit).

Any neurofags here can help?

>> No.4810699

I have been exposed to X rays several times in my life due to medical problems since I was a kid.

No brain damage.

>> No.4810696

Yes; X-Ray radiation is absorbed by most tissue.

But, the lower levels from a dental device would probably require a lot of different exposures.
Also, aside from shielding the assistants use over you, the machine has a pretty narrow range so that it may not be aimed at any brain tissue.

You have little reason to be concerned, they say.

>> No.4810709

>>4810699
Unless you've had intensive MRI's/brain scanning over the course of your life, with the results compared, I don't think you can truly determine that.

>>4810696
This is what I've tried to reason, but like I've said I have multiple exposures a year due to teeth "problems" (some of them seem extremely minor, and I suspect the dentist diagnoses them to make another couple of hundred bucks)

>> No.4810712

Not a medfag, but i've been in hospital for quite a lot of time.

X rays can fuck up EVERYTHING; what reallt matters is the dose you get.
'Danger' starts around 7000 irradiations.
A CAT (computer assisted tomography, 3D full body scan) is equivalent to about 2000 standard exposures.
So, you're almost certainly ok.

>> No.4810714

The linear no-threshold model would say it gives you an ever-so-slightly increased risk of cancer.

>> No.4810722

X-rays cause hilariously little damage.

In your normal medical X-ray, you're exposed to about the same amount of radiation in one sitting as we get from average background radiation every 10 days. Which seems like a lot.

But in fact, that only increases the chance of cancer by 75 by about 1/1 billion odds.

CT Scans are more dramatic. Averaging out, the risk of a CT scan causing cancer by 75 is about 1/5000.

The odds of a non-irradiated person getting cancer in the US is about 4/10.

Sooooo, not a very significant risk at all.

You'd have a higher risk of cancer by 75 by being in a line of work where you're constantly flying from location to location.

>> No.4810751

Thank you, sciencebros. The typical Google search result hailed sensationalist garbage from unreputable sites, claiming x-rays increase the chance of damage/cancer by 50+%