IN HER article, "Radiation risk: Doctors concerned about the exploding use of CT scanners" (Health/Science, Nov. 26), Liz Kowalczyk failed to mention the increasing use of computed tomography scans in dentistry, particularly for patients undergoing evaluation for dental implants.
There are alternatives to a traditional medical CT scanner for undergoing this X-ray examination. For dental implant studies, cone beam CT scanners provide an eight- to tenfold reduction, and as much as a fifteenfold reduction, depending on the precise nature of the study, compared to the same procedure on a medical CT scanner.
Once a patient and his or her dentist have decided that a CT scan is appropriate, the patient should ask the dentist about a referral to a facility with cone beam CT capabilities in order to keep the X-ray dose to the minimum reasonably possible.
BERNARD FRIEDLAND
Boston
The writer is head of the division of oral and maxillofacial radiology at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
