The alpha particles from the smoke detector do not themselves pose a health hazard, as they are absorbed in a few centimeters of air or by the structure of the detector.
Americium-241 is however a potentially dangerous isotope if it is taken into the body in soluble form. It decays by both alpha activity and gamma emissions and it would concentrate in the skeleton. However, swallowing the radioactive material from a smoke detector would not lead to significant internal absorption of Am-241, since the dioxide is insoluble. It will pass through the digestive tract, without delivering a significant radiation dose.
The radiation dose to the occupants of a house from a smoke detector is essentially zero, and in any case very much less than that from natural background radiation.
There are 2 types of smoke alarms -- One uses the radiation from a small amount of radioactive material to detect the presence of smoke or heat sources and the other doesn't. So even in smoke alarms there is choice.
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