Dental X-Rays Can Double Brain Tumor Risk, Study Finds

Dental X-rays could double the risk for the most common brain tumor, according to a study released Tuesday from scientists and doctors at Yale, Harvard and other prestigious institutions published in Cancer, a scientific journal of the American Cancer Society.

It sounds frightening -- and there is no question it invokes a serious warning -- but even those who carried out the research urge people not to overreact.

"Our take home message is don’t panic. Don’t stop going to the dentist," said the lead author of the study Dr. Elizabeth Claus, a neurological surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Yale School of Public Health.

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