SAN ANTONIO -- Hundreds of X-ray machines across Houston and thousands across the state are all twisting and turning, rotating and radiating to capture to uncover what the naked eye can’t.

“Miraculous,” dentist Dr. Simona Cuevas said.

“These machines can save so many lives,” radiation oncologist Dr. Pam Otto said.

But as powerful as they are, as all-seeing as X-rays seem to be, they didn’t see Barbara Rice’s cancer.

“I really don’t trust — put all my trust — in the machine,” she said.

A few months after her mammogram came back clean, she discovered a cancerous lump that lead to week after week of chemotherapy.

“How accurate is this machine?” Rice said. “And, sure enough, I found my tumor.”

To keep these machines accurate and the images clear and precise, Texas law requires yearly inspections at all mammogram sites.

Like at the San Antonio Diagnostic Imaging Center.

Reporter: “You know they’re supposed to be inspected every year?”

Sean Abbott: “I’m positive that they are.”

But, state records say this facility was nine months overdue for an inspection.

Reporter: “”It looks like, according to the state records, that it hasn’t been inspected since August 2006?”

SA: “That’s not true!”

Reporter: “That’s not true?”

SA: “No, it’s not.”

Reporter: “Well, what is the truth?”

SA: “I need to check on that.”

We checked, and inspectors said they were months late in making sure the equipment here was working properly.

Reporter: “”You’re sure yours works properly?”

SA: “Yes.”

Reporter: “No one’s in danger?”

SA: “No one is always in danger at all. Positive.”

Three mammography machines at Christus Santa Rosa were listed as seven months past inspection.

“No, we just had our inspection,” Barbara Koelt said.

But we sifted through hundreds of records and found not only these overdue inspections—but found seven others.

“That just surprises me,” Dr. Otto said. She said inspections are there to ensure that the radiation is low and that the image quality is high.

“You could miss a diagnosis if you don’t have good images,” she said.

Reporter: “And that could be life or death?”

PO: “It could be.”

And there could be other issues. The state said this dental office has some equipment that’s six years overdue.

Reporter: “Are you concerned that maybe the patients are getting an overexposure?”

Dr. James Lee: “”Definitely, definitely.”

Reporter: “Should the patients be concerned?”

JL: “They should be, they should be.”

Patients might be concerned to learn that thousands of X-ray machines across the state are listed here as out of inspection. 

The state says nearly a quarter of those are dental X-rays.

They’re supposed to be inspected every four years.

But, still, the X-ray equipment at Dr. Menchaca’s office was listed as overdue for more than five years.

Reporter: “You don’t feel your patients have ever been in danger.”

Menchaca: “Absolutely not”

Reporter: “Not of over exposure to radiation.”

Menchaca: “Oh, not, absolutely not.”   

Reporter: “But, you can’t be 100 percent sure?”

Menchaca: “Once again, I’m not a X-ray tech … that has the meters to check those.”

“It’s very upsetting, and, I would say it’s troublesome,” dentist Dr. Simona Cuevas said.

Troublesome, dentist Simona Cuevas said, because the inspections are a necessary examination on the equipment itself.

“By checking that,” he said, “it gives us, um, safety net … knowing that we don’t overexpose anyone with radiation.”

“There can be a risk of contracting a fatal cancer from any exposure,” said Thomas Cardwell with Radiation Inspection. He’s in charge of inspection those exposures, inspecting all X-ray machines for the state health department.

But when we confronted him, he could not vouch for the safety of 1,519 dental and 3,141 other X-ray machines statewide. All were out of inspection.

“I am willing to concede that there’s a problem not only in Bexar County, but statewide, with us completing our inspections,” Cardwell said.

The problem, he said, is too many machines and too few inspectors. They can’t catch up, and now the doctors are caught in the middle.

Reporter: “Are they doing anything wrong?”

TC: “They’re not doing anything wrong, necessarily.”

Cardwell continued, “We have not been able to meet that standard that we have set for ourselves. That is honestly a problem.”

Reporter: “And, it’s possible people are in danger.”

TC: ”There’s always a possibility that people are in danger.”

Dr. Cuevas said if the state isn’t checking like it is supposed to, it’s letting down doctors – and patients.

“Even more so, because they are the victims,” Dr. Cuevas said.

Reporter: “”Even more so, because they are the victims.”

Dr. Lee: “Clearly, clearly.”

“I’m concerned in that I didn’t realize they so far behind,” Dr. Otto said.

And cancer survivor Rice is concerned too.

“I’m just stunned that there are so many,” she said.

She blames no one for missing her cancer, but as a survivor she’s worried a lack of inspections could lead to a problem for someone else.

“It’s about our life,” she said. “It’s very important.”