Absolutely correct, and my examples given are unsubstantiated and anecdotal at best; I'm not in the medical physics field.

Honestly, I'd take both. If standard light imaging is 99% efficient then it adds additional triage and diagnostic capability.

As regards the billing situation, that may partially be a locale issue rather than an all-dentists thing, but even within the UK it's disappointingly nonstandard and subject to manipulation by the dentist.

Despite all that, you say that X-rays are pushed because it "prevents mistakes". And my response would be along the lines of "well... yeah..." because a mistake turns a simple filling into a more complex (and expensive) operation that could cost a tooth and £x,000.

Speaking from personal experience, if the dentist wasn't concerned about anything on my teeth and I didn't ask for an x-ray, I didn't get one.