Frequent dental X-rays, particularly in childhood, may be linked
to an increased risk of the most common brain tumor in
adulthood, say researchers who suggest minimizing the use of
X-rays, especially among people without symptoms of tooth or gum
problems. Dr. Elizabeth B. Claus, an epidemiologist at the Yale
School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston, led the new study suggesting an
association between mouth X-rays and tumors called meningiomas.
The tumors, which take their name because they arise in the
meninges, the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord,
account for about a third of brain tumors detected in the United
States. Although they're most often benign and slow-growing,
they can cause disability by exerting pressure on the brain.
Having once-yearly or more frequent bitewing X-rays, which
expose a small piece of film placed between the teeth to a beam
of radiation, raised the risk for meningiomas 1.4 to 1.9 times,
Claus and her colleagues found. A p