Should you feel concerned if you see a radiation technician using a lead apron? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Most diagnostic x-rays, including those at your dentist, don’t require a lead apron anymore, several professional organizations, including the American Dental Association, have decided. Yet you may still see your technician wearing one. Mahadevappa Mahesh, a medical physics expert at Johns Hopkins, explains.

Mahesh: The older generation technologists are worried, like this is my practice all the time, now I feel I'm not protecting my patient but we are trying to educate no there's no need to. There is the next question ask is like if we are saying no to the patient why are we wearing an apron and that is a good question but it's a very straightforward answer, is like we are wearing it because we are not the patient and we are working around the patient we have to protect ourselves from any scattering coming out.  :27

Mahesh says radiation scatter, where the x-ray beam may be diverted, affects people who administer x-rays much more than someone with a single exposure, so don’t worry if your technician wears an apron without offering one to you. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.