Q. Our office has switched to digital x-rays... do we still need to place lead aprons and thyroid collars on our patients?
A. From a scientific standpoint, the answer is esstentially no. From a risk management standpoint, the anwer is yes.
Many years ago, dental x-ray equipment was a lot less sophisticated than it is today. Not only that, the type of film used was much slower than that in use now, and a LOT slower than the new digital x-rays. Depending on instrument settings, digital x-rays may have lower amounts of radiation emitted. Overall, the technological improvements in equipment, film types and data processing in use today have pretty much eliminated the need for leaded aprons.
However, patients often expect to have an apron placed over them during their procedures, just because they were used to seeing them in the past. In addition, it is conceivable that a patient could subsequently claim (perhaps many years after their treatment) that a medical issue they have is as a result of radiation exposure. So, from a risk management standpoint, it would be best to continue to use lead chest aprons and thyroid collars when using both traditional and digital x-ray systems.
