Persuasive Essay On The Importance Of X Rays

Over the past few decades one of the main arguments patients have when going to see a dentist is the amount of radiation they are exposed to while taking dental radiographs. Every time this happens the dentist has to sit the patient down and talk to them about the cause versus effect. While many patients think that they are being over exposed to radiation while having a standard set of x-rays every year, they never take into account the amount of radiation that they are receiving through other devices of by just walking outside. Not many dental providers think of the amount of radiation they are receiving just by working with it every single day. The lack of knowledge that dental providers have about radiation exposure can affect their overall

Advances in both radiography and radiation treatment keep on advancing and get to be more sophisticated. Cases incorporate digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in which, apparently, there is the potential for more prominent inclusion by radiographers and by radiation therapists in image guided radiation treatment. Looking even to the moderately later past underscores the degree to which change is happening in the radiography and radiation treatment work environment. Case in point, ten years prior it was radiologists who embedded cannulas for CT patients (AIR 2014, 1). Presently radiographers and attendants attempt the assignment. In private radiology hones, Australian radiographers now consistently embed central lines and do feature joint, shoulder, arm, and tendon infusions under supervision.

- Even though the X-ray expose patient to harmful radiation it is used to see inside the human body and diagnose broken bones, gallstones and later tuberculosis.

Listener relevance: I’m sure that most of you have received and x-ray at some point in your life. If you have been ill, or have had some type of broken bone or injury, or have been to the dentist at some point in your life, you more than likely received an x-ray.

However, if you are willing to take that option and you are wanting to become a Radiation Technologists, you must be willing to take a hold on the responsibilities and duties. These responsibilities and duties may be challenging, but can be extremely rewarding in the long run. You must be very patient while reading the details of an image. In order to protect your patient from radiation there must be a radiation shield over them. But, before you can get started on any x-rays, there are questions about their medical history that need to be asked first. Organizing and neatness can be a major key in keeping up with medical records of patients. Although you think your job may be just x-rays and the like, you still have a physician present in the room at all times who will be giving you instructions on where to x-ray the patient.

Although there have been signs of leukemia, there is still uncertainty if that long hours of radiation exposure has any effect on x-ray techs. (RSNA) Although I first believed that as an x-ray tech I would be diagnosed with cancer or some other disease, I now know that there is only a slight possibility that I will even be diagnosed. Even though getting zapped by some kind of radiation would turn the x-ray tech into a powerful beast would be cool, it is impossible… for now anyways.

The article Radiation Protection of Medical Staff1 looks at the various occupational hazards medical imaging personnel face on a day to day basis. As technology has improved over the years, there has been an increase in the number of medical imaging procedures in which medical imaging staff must stay in the room or near the patient when the radiation exposure takes place. Because of this, medical imaging personnel could be at a substantial risk of occupational exposure to radiation and they must be aware of the proper actions and steps that are in place to keep their occupational exposure dose as low as reasonably achievable.

Also, x rays are capable of detecting many other issues such as cancerous masses or pneumonia as well as even dental problems all of which, again, can and have saved many lives [4]. For comparison, 400 million people are subject to x rays annually, which save substantially more lives than those of which were killed in japan [5]. Radiation can also be applied, not only to see but also to save patients in that it can be used, since it damages tissues, to kill things like tumors and other potential dangerous or life threatening masses within your body. Ironically enough it kills what it causes and for purpose of numbers, women with breast cancer had a survival rate of 25.1% in 1944 that more than tripled to 76.5% in the years 1995-2004 [6]. Also, now, 67% of women receive radiation treatment after having been diagnosed and the number is increasing [6]. But, beyond the medical field there are also economical advances that are largely caused by the use of nuclear power. These include the implementation of nuclear power plants that provide the cleanest and quickest way of generating electricity [7]. Also, to again throw numbers into the equation, fossil fuels are being consumed faster than they can be produced and the fuel for nuclear reactors, Uranium-235, is only worth 20%,

Shielding is important because we, as radiographers, need to protect our patients from unnecessary radiation. Shielding our patients is our duty. A majority of the patients we see are unaware of the effects that radiation can cause, while some are more educated and are aware that they should be shielded during exposure to x-rays. We should be shielding every patient if we are able to, especially the gonadal area and breast area of people in the reproductive age. If a patient is pregnant, but desperately needs the exam, we need to make sure we are shielding as best as possible to prevent the exposure from reaching the fetus, which could potentially cause developmental effects depending on what stage of development the fetus is in.

While healthy babies are born every day, not everyone is so fortunate. In many cases, diagnostic radiology is required for patients during their childhood. Can having this radiation during the formative years lead to adverse effects later in life? The biggest concern from radiation is the risk of cancer. Cancer can occur at any dose from ionizing radiation because it is a stochastic effect, meaning that it is probabilistic. The probability of a stochastic effect, such as cancer, increases as the dose increases. While receiving this radiation may be necessary, it can cause some serious trouble later in life, such as breast cancer, leukemia, and thyroid cancer.

The effects of radiation can be hazardous to any part of the human body. In this guide I will explain the advantages, and disadvantages of x-ray radiation. I will also discuss the technological advances that we have today then of what we had the past on the human body during radiation exposure. I will explain preventions of exposure and safety precautions that we as dental assistants as well as patients can follow to stay safe.

Since the technologies being used only bounce waves of the body surface, this leaves then skin highly exposed to concentrated amounts of radiation. Health side effect studies of full body scanners have been labeled classified and inaccessible to the general public. Four professors from the University of California- San Francisco, whom are well respected cancer, X-ray crystallographers and imaging experts stated in a letter to the Obama administration that, “The low-energy rays do a “Compton scatter” off tissue layers just under the skin, possibly exposing some vital areas and leaving the tissues at risk of mutation. When an X-ray Compton scatters, it doesn’t shift an electron to a higher energy level; instead, it hits the electron hard enough to dislodge it from its atom.” The authors note that this process is “likely breaking bonds,” which could cause mutations in cells and raise the risk of cancer (Johnston). Furthermore, the UCSF researchers write in their letter, “older passengers are more susceptible to mutagenic effects of X-rays, and “the risk of

When assisting the patient, the radiographers have to make sure they provide radiation safety not only for the patient but also for themselves. There are many different methods to providing safety. With the equipment and radiation dosage, highest KVp and the lowest mAs is used to provide the minimum amount of dosage required for the procedure. Furthermore, safety can be provided by reducing the amount of rime in radiation area, by putting as much distance between you and the radiation source as possible. When performing a portable examination stand at least six feet from x-ray source and wear a lead apron. The patient should remove any jewelry or metal accessories that may interfere with radiation procedure and both the technologist and the patient needs to wear protective lead shields for example lead gloves, aprons, skirts and thyroid shields to protect the other body parts from the radiation. It is advised to also always wear monitoring device at collar level. Lastly, the technologist uses immobilization devices to hold the patients when needed.

radiation (the kind used in X-rays) is known to cause cancer at high doses, the risks of

With this stability and mass production, x-rays machines became very common everywhere. From large factories, to doctors offices, all the way to the corner store of small towns, where children and adults alike could insert a coin into a machine and view the bones in their feet. (3.) Because of their relative adolescences in the world, not much was known about x-rays or their effects on the human body. The first theories about the rays’ effects on the human body were that they had beneficial applications. With this being the only theory about their effect, widespread use went on, unmonitored, and unregulated. This unregulated use led to injuries but because of their slow onset the injuries were never attributed to x-rays. While some scientists tied certain skin burns to over exposure of x-rays it wasn’t until popular minds of the world like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and William J. Morton expressed that they experienced eye pain when dealing with the rays for extended periods of time that people began to connect the dots and understand the negative