[bluGill]

The other issue is the screening isn't risk free. I don't recall the exact numbers, but for every 3000 cases of breast cancer detected one is in someone who wouldn't have got breast cancer at all if she wouldn't have got all those screenings. It is still worth doing because it saves a lot of lives, but the more you do it the more cases you will cause so you need to find the right balance.

[cogman10]

The screenings right now are something like once every year. Doesn't seem like you'll get a lot of cancer from that.

I certainly don't worry about the cancer I could develop as a result of an xray in a regular dental cleaning (even though that's a possibility).

[bluGill]

Most women don't get breast cancer, the 1 case in 3000 (again I don't know the exact number, but this is reasonable for range) caused by xrays includes screenings of all women, including those who never get it.

However if you are a doctor trying to figure out how often to screen women, the danger if xrays is a strong reason to not do it too often. Daily screenings would catch breast cancer a lot sooner on average, but just isn't worth the risk even if the screening was otherwise free.