Can you recycle old x-rays?

Too many xrays..am i at risk?

• when i was diagnosed with tmj, i went to a tmj specialist in June and they did cat scans (tomography) which was the one where the xray moves around your head. Then in august i fell down and sprained my toe and they did an Xray to make sure if it was fractured. Then in November i went to a chiropractor because of neck pains which was from the tmj and took and Xray of my neck. Lastly in January i went to the dentist for a checkup and they did another cat scan (tomography) around my head and also teeth xrays ( the one where they make you might on a tab then take the xray. The reason they did the cat scan around my head because that denist was part of their checkup. My question is that was it to much exposure from all these xrays. Researchers are saying to much exposure from xrays can cause cancer. can that be possible? what are the risks? do they mean like if you take 20 xrays? I no i am a hypochondriac but its really bothering me because i keep thinking none of these xrays were necessary.

• Answer:

  The relative risk from the diagnostic x-ray exposure you have had is minimal. You probably have a greater risk from the sunlight you encountered so far in your life. You must certainly not be a cigarette smoker. Good for you. Smoking is the real risk for many cancers. The x-rays you have had are not. All risks are relative. You take a risk when you get into an automobile. No intelligent person would worry about a few x-rays while smoking cigarettes. Totally illogical. By the way, when you go in to see doctors and dentists with complaints, they will do x-rays. Why? Because if there is one chance in a million that something is wrong, they must check it out. That is because people sue doctors right and left for negligence in not doing enough tests. If we had laws reforming the massive awards from law suits that make lawyers and a few patients rich, we might see fewer x-rays being done. I was never sued in my twenty years of medical practice, but I often had to order x-rays so patients and their families would feel we were "checking everything possible." People always want "everything" done, and then they complain about x-ray exposure. You have the right to refuse any x-ray study. I have done so myself on several occasions. That takes the liability off the doctor and on to you. You had to agree to every x-ray study that you have had.