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Dental X-rays can harm heart, suggests study

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A new study suggests that low doses of radiation from dental X-rays can trigger heart disease and strokes.

A team, led by Dr Mark Little at Imperial College London, constructed a mathematical model to find the risks associated with low background levels of radiation.

The team discovered that radiation kills monocytes, a type of white blood cell, in the arterial wall, which results in higher levels of monocyte chemo-attractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and leads to cardiovascular disease.

The authors say that the risks arising out of exposure to low dose radiation like energy from medical and dental X-rays may be much greater than what have been assumed until now.

Dr Mark Little explained: ‘For the first time we have shown a mechanism that could explain the kind of cardiovascular disease risks that have been seen in the occupational studies.

‘If the mechanism is valid it implies that risks from low-dose radiation exposures like medical and dental X-rays, which until now have been assumed to result only from cancer, may have been substantially underestimated.'

The study has appeared in the latest issue of the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology. (ANI)

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This headline is very misleading -- I would say, just trumped up hype. The study you mention is a highly theoretical mathematical model of how small intermittent doses of ionizing radiation to arteries might damage the artery wall and possibly promote development of atherosclerosis. Last time I studied anatomy, the heart is not within the head, where dental x-rays expose. Moreover, the study is so far yet from any clinically validated findings -- the hypothesis hasn't even been tested in vitro yet -- that the headline is just pumping up distrust of dental diagnostic radiographs without any basis whatsoever. The article is fit for a tabloid, not a serious dental news site. Shame.

Here's the link to the free-access journal article:
http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000539

Posted by overbyte 4/11/09 at 14:53

To be fair the report does say: A team, led by Dr Mark Little at Imperial College London, constructed a mathematical model to find the risks associated with low background levels of radiation.
It also quotes him as saying: ‘If the mechanism is valid it implies that risks from low-dose radiation exposures like medical and dental X-rays, which until now have been assumed to result only from cancer, may have been substantially underestimated.' But thank you for providing the link.

Posted by julie 4/11/09 at 15:16

My point is that the headline is sensationalism and doesn't fit the article. Headlines tend to be remembered or to set the stage for people's attitudes when they don't have time to read the actual story. I would give it a headline something like: "Mathematical model suggests how repeated low-dose radiation may damage arteries." Boring, but accurate. If you read the study, you'll see how remote the mathematical model is from dental x-rays and the heart. But, thank you for pointing out the original study.

Posted by overbyte 4/11/09 at 16:53