The dental profession is committed to delivering the highest quality of care to each of its individual patients and applying advancements in technology and science to continually improve the oral health status of the U.S. population. 

The ADA in collaboration with the FDA developed these guidelines to serve as an adjunct to the dentist's professional judgment of how to best use diagnostic imaging for each patient. 

Radiographs can help the dental practitioner evaluate and definitively diagnose many oral diseases and conditions. However, the dentist must weigh the benefits of taking dental radiographs against the risk of exposing a patient to x-rays, the effects of which accumulate from multiple sources over time.

The dentist, knowing the patient's health history and vulnerability to oral disease, is in the best position to make this judgment in the interest of each patient. 

For this reason, these guidelines are intended to serve as a resource for the practitioner and are not intended to be a standard of care, requirements or regulations.