Why is the prefix milli- commonly used in dental radiation measurement?

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Doses in dentistry fall at a very small scale, so using milli- keeps the numbers practical and readable. The milli- prefix means one thousandth, so a dose that is 0.001 of the base unit becomes 1 mGy or 1 mSv. This avoids unwieldy decimals and aligns reporting with what clinicians routinely see, making comparisons and communication clearer. It isn’t just historical or cosmetic; it matches the actual magnitudes of typical dental exposures and is adopted by standards bodies for consistency.