Understanding Medical Scans: Limit Scans Involving Radiation to Tests that are the Most Necessary

There is a definite advantage that breakthroughs in medical technology have given professionals when diagnosing a patient. Many of them are responsible for an extensive number of lives that have been saved over the last few decades. However, abusing medical technology can actually be detrimental to your health instead of beneficial. For instance, X-rays have given dentists an essential tool which helps them determine trouble spots in the teeth and gums so that effective preventative care can be administered. However, X-rays produce harmful radiation and too much exposure can be very risky to an individuals health. Therefore, getting X-rays done at every visit to the dentist to ensure a healthy smile could prove to have a worse health effect on the body should the over abundance of exposure to radiation result in long term health problems.

A new study has shown that Americans are now getting the most exposure to radiation from medical scans like that from a M.R.I. machine, not from power lines or cell phones or too much sun. This study targets Americans because the United States accounts for more than half of the procedures performed globally that use radiation for medical purposes. The actual amount of radiation utilized in medical practice has grown exponentially over the last few decades. It may be time to ease up on the throttle and slow down the rate at which we're utilizing these medical technologies, applying tests involving radiation only in the most necessary instances.

Obviously, too much radiation has been linked to cancer among other illnesses, but where the harmful radiation was coming from was always up to debate. Most individuals just assume that tests done in a medical facility are being performed safely. In retrospect, researchers have shown that the people at the greatest risks for developing cancer could in fact be those that are receiving a higher number of medical scans. In 2006, medical radiation accounted for more than half of all exposure to radiation, which was a significant increase from the 1980's (total doses 678 from 1980-1982, 2006: 1,660). Scientists are now predicting that 2 percent of all cancers in the United States will come from medical scans in the upcoming decades.