Improvements in technology helped eliminate the need for lead aprons for most x-rays, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Why don’t you need a lead apron when you have dental x-rays? Johns Hopkins medical physics expert Mahadevappa Mahesh explains.

Mahesh: When you go to dentist we all put on apron, there's no need to because the dental when you do the dental exams the beam is so small and the area we're imaging is also less small therefore the scatter coming out is less, and basically it's not hitting anything area. Recently the American Dental Association commissioned their own group study to examine all these things and they have come out against use of any type of apron for no reason.  :25

Mahesh says most X-rays in the dentist’s office employ different technology, so a neck or thyroid shield doesn’t help.

Mahesh: Now with all the dentists doing a cone beam CT the thyroid shield can interfere in the beam and create more nonsense, because of that they have also come out against any type of patient shielding.  :11

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.