I've been trying to learn about the possible effects of x-ray radiation from dental x-rays and most of the resources I come across compare the exposure to that of natural background radiation.
Here's an example (not specific to dental x-rays): http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733826941?p=1158934607708
I know electro-magnetic-radiation comes in different wavelengths and some are ionizing and some are not. Is this a valid comparison?
Update:
Thanks for the helpful responses so far. Looking at the chart here from @anna v, is comparing x-rays with background radiation comparing EMR that is 10^-10 with wavelengths that are longer than infrared? That's what I still don't understand. Wouldn't those different types of waves have different properties?
Best Answer
Roughly yes.
Radiation is broadly divided into two from a safety point of view.
Ionising radiation can break chemical bonds and so has an obvious way to cause damage to your body - how much depends on the energy, how much radiation you absorb and where in your body it gets to. Both X-Rays and particles from radioactive material are ionising, as is the UV in sunlight, and all these can cause health issues.
Non-ionising radiation is that where the energy of the individual particles is too low to directly break a chemical bond. This is true of most visible light and radio waves. It's still possible to damage your body with this, but only by some mechanism such as direct heating eg. a microwave oven or an industrial laser.