Dental xrays -- wdyd?

[hillview]

What do you do WRT dental xrays for kids? So far my boys have not had them. They have all baby teeth still. I argue every time with the dentist. What do you do?
/hillary

[HIU8]

My kids get them once a year--not at each visit. They want me to do it at each visit now that DS has lost so many teeth and I refused. Once a year is enough.

[brittone2]

I'm not sure if you caught this when it was posted or not.

http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3266160

[SnuggleBuggles]

Interesting link. I'll have to check on protection for ds1. I am a proponent of x-rays b/c I feel like I could have saved ds1 a root canal and an extraction if we had caught the cavities brewing between his teeth.

Beth

[karstmama]

ds has had one set. a tech sat in the chair, he was in her lap, and the lead wrap was over both of them. she helped him hold still, and i was just outside the door cooing at him - he did great.

really, he had so many xrays in nicu i'm surprised he doesn't glow in the dark. what's one more?

[daphne]

DD is 4 and hasn't had xrays yet ( I think they start at age 5 at our practice); DS is 6 and has a a couple of sets (one was routine & one was because he had knocked his teeth loose).

[randomkid]

DD has had one set of xrays. Our pedi dentist starts at age 6yo unless problems are suspected. They only do xrays once/yr. The dentist said he is always relieved when they come out clean with no cavities (I had asked why he felt they were necessary). He said that many times they have been telling parents that everything looks good and they are doing a great job only to find cavities between the teeth when they do those first films. Fortunately, DD was cavity free. They also checked to be sure her 6 year molars were there.

Having said that, after DD's last visit, I decided that we will space out dental visits to more like every 8 months rather than every 6. They literally spent about 15 minutes cleaning her teeth and the dentist looked at her teeth for about 3 minutes. Their prices went up and that quick visit cost me $168! We've been going every 6 months like clockwork for 4 years now so I feel like we can spread the visits out a little more. This means DD will only be getting one xray about every 16 months.

[ThreeofUs]

I wouldn't get them if we didn't have to.

DS1 hit his front teeth so many times - me pushing them back in, him screaming, blood everywhere - that we had to have him xrayed. We see a pediatric dentist who is very careful about shielding.