America’s largest dental association will no longer recommend the use of lead aprons and thyroid collars on patients undergoing dental X-rays, it says, with the US Food & Drug Administration supporting this change.
The main reasons are that X-ray beams are now more focused, so there is less concern about radiation hitting other parts of the body, and additionally, the aprons and collars can sometimes block dentists from getting the images they need, reports AP.
The best thing to lower radiation exposure is to make sure the patient needs the X-ray and to do it right the first time, said Dr Purnima Kumar, who chairs the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs, which released the recommendation.
Dental X-rays use a relatively small amount of radiation to begin with, she said.
Sanjay Mallya, a radiologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said there is “no hard science” that the aprons are needed.
“Yet at the same time, we do have the letter of the law that requires that,” said Mallya, who helped write the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology’s recommendation against the use of lead aprons and thyroid collars.
Kumar noted it was that group’s recommendation that spurred the American Dental Association to look at the topic.
The guidance is also backed by medical physicists with the FDA.
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