Few things to note
Scientists have known for a long time that xrays can be harmful and can cause cancer and tumours.
This is why the dentists and radiologists are nowhere to be seen when the xray is taken, and they wear those dosimeter films.
Over the years xray machines have improved incredibly and are now tuned to the frequency that exposes film the best, rather than spewing xrays of all different frequencies all over the place.
Film sensitivity is much better too.
So the amount of radiation you receive in an xray today is much less than what you received 40 years ago.
So even after further studies and a link between dental xrays and meningioma is established, it could be that it is only for people that had xrays of old.
As for FSR and Cyberknife. Its the same sort of xray radiation, in fact if you undergo FSR in particular the amount of radiation you receive is massive in comparison to a dental xray. The amount of radiation you receive is equivilent to many thousands of dental xrays.
Despite these doses of radiation, Radiosurgery has been performed for decades and the risk of other tumours has been proved to be extremely low.
The fact that many people have been exposed to doses of radiation many thousands or even hundreds of thousands of times greater to the head than current dental xrays, either as nuclear industry workers, nuclear accidents, atomic bomb testing, radiosurgery, regular CT Scans of the head, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chenobyl, demonstrates that dental xrays are likely to pose minimal risks
There is a risk, just like there is a risk of going outside and getting a melanoma from sunlight.
We need to put these risks in perspective.
If we use the sunshine analogy getting a dental xray is probably about the same as going outside with a hat and sunscreen on and sitting in the shade.. some of us will still get melanoma from doing this.
Radiosurgery is going to a beach once with no sunscreen and getting sunburnt with bilsters, which does significantly raise the risk of melanoma..
Whole Brain Radiotherapy, Nuclear Accident Clean up workers. Atomic Tests.
Is like going to a nudist beach every day of you life and getting sunburnt every day and you have red hair and freckles and in your spare time you go to a sun bed.
Despite all of that you might still die of a heart attack.
Exposure to radiation which includes going outside, always poses some risk.
We all need to have an understanding of what is acceptible risk and how that impacts our lives.
We should not be afraid of acceptible risk. Just as we should not be afraid of going outside.. (going outside is after all far more dangerous than staying inside all day)
Dental xrays, and radiosurgery are considered by many to be an acceptible risk.
So go outside, enjoy the sunshine, and accept acceptible risk.
If something goes wrong while you are outside, accept that being outside is slightly dangerous, but its a better quality of life than being inside all day.
