While using a digital x-ray has its advantages, it can also increase the dosage on a patient if the image quality is too high. You can try to avoid unnecessary exposure to a patient by ensuring that x-rays take the necessary amount of time each year and by taking them accurately. Getting into the habit of taking an x-ray as a routine habit may not be the best solution because each patient's mouth is not the same as the last, you will want to treat each patient differently. “A full series of 18 dental x-rays produces 27 times less radiation than a lower gastrointestinal series and 20 times less radiation than a year of normal background radiation from the environment.” When radiation dose is mentioned we often wonder what it means, well a radiation dose is the amount of energy absorbed by the human body during an x-ray. The amount of energy that can be put into the body can become dangerous and harmful to a person, causing lifelong effects such as liver cancer or perhaps even a