Multiple exposures to dental x-rays may increase the risk of thyroid cancer, according to a study conducted in Kuwait by researchers from Brighton and Sussex Medical School (Acta Oncologica, May 2010, Vol. 49:4, pp. 447-453).
The thyroid gland is highly susceptible to radiation carcinogenesis, the researchers noted. But dental x-rays are often overlooked as a radiation hazard for this gland. In fact, an increased risk of thyroid cancer has been reported in dentists, dental assistants, and x-ray workers, the authors wrote, and exposure to dental x-rays has been associated with an increased risk of meningiomas and salivary tumors.
These statistics prompted the researchers to conduct a population-based, case-control interview study among 313 patients with thyroid cancer and a similar number of individually matched control subjects in Kuwait. They found that exposure to dental x-rays was significantly associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (p = 0.001) and that the association did not vary appreciably by age, gender, nationality, level of education, or parity.
"These findings ... provide some support to the hypothesis that exposure to dental x-rays, particularly multiple exposures, may be associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer and warrant further study in settings where historical dental x-ray records may be available," the researchers concluded.
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