Dangers of having MRI, CT-scan, & X-ray within a seven day period?

Question

I had a MRI last week for my spine. I got a call today that I'm having a CT-scan tomorrow for my abdomen (unrelated issue). The day after tomorrow, I'm having X-rays done on my teeth at the dentist because I cracked my teeth. These are all unrelated medical issues. But all these medical issues required medical-imaging that happened to be scheduled within 7 days of each other.

Is it dangerous to have a MRI, CT-scan, and an X-ray all within a week's period? Are they all radioactive? Also, I had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago (which was unhelpful --- which is why I'm now having the CT-scan).

Answer 1

The amounts of radiation in today's machines is low enough that there is no negative impact to be expected.

For comparison:

X-Rays: A chest X-ray gives you about 10 mrem

MRIs measure the reaction time of molecules (in the body) to changes of outside magnetic fields. No radiation or radioactivity is involved at all.

CT-Scans: A chest CT scan clocks in at about 200mrem.

Natural background radiation is around 300 mrem.

Smoking five cigarettes a day means you inhale about 1300 mrem a year.

See this list for many more examples:http://www.iem-inc.com/information/tools/common-radiation-exposures