Are x-rays compulsory?

Patient: “It’s a pure rip-off by dentists!”

Waldviertler does not want to accept that X-rays can reveal hidden problems (symbolic image).

(Bild: Robert Kneschke)

A woman from Waldviertel wanted to be treated without x-rays - the broken filling turned into an odyssey. She had to visit many dentists before one of them gave her a new filling "X-ray-free". She sees shameless profiteering and the exploitation of an emergency situation, while the dentist and the dental association remain silent.

Physiotherapist Bettina Stoifl sees a scandal: "I just feel ripped off by many dentists when they force services on me that are unnecessary and even harmful in order to enrich themselves," she says.

Treatment refused without an X-ray
Dr. Alexander Engenhart from Groß Siegharts should have repaired her broken seal. However, she refused the dental X-ray because - in her opinion - too many of them would promote brain tumors. "I am a member of the medical profession myself, yet he denied me any competence to know my dental status and refused to treat me. Yet I'm not a pain patient, I definitely don't have root inflammation, periodontitis or gingivitis and I'm in optimal condition," says Stoifl.

"Shameless money-making"
She was then rejected over the phone by "countless other dental practices" without an X-ray, until a dentist with health insurance renewed her seal without a panoramic X-ray. For Stoifl, this was "shameless money-making and taking advantage of an emergency at the expense of patients and health insurance companies". After all, why do you need a panoramic X-ray of the entire set of teeth if the filling has only broken out in a single tooth and you "definitely don't need or want any further treatment"?

Dentist and dental association remain silent
Neither Dr. Engenhart nor the Chamber of Dentists wanted to comment to the "Krone". A dentist from Waldviertel wishes to remain anonymous, but clarifies: "The radiation thing is a load of nonsense. Nowadays, our devices are extremely low in radiation. You get a lot more of it on an airplane - and that's not worth mentioning!"

However, if the patient insisted on not having the X-ray, he would treat her by referring her to acute treatment and a quick check-up. "We can only see a small part. You can only look underneath with an X-ray. And serious problems can often lie dormant there!"