New dentist technology, best dental machines for x-rays
Dentistry has evolved rapidly in the 20th and 21st centuries. Now dentists have many great dental machines and access to many excellent dental supplies - to provide better dental care to their patients. We will be discussing the best dental imagine machines, how dental x-ray technology developed, new dentists' technology, and the best dental products that dentists use to provide great dental care to their patients.
- History of dental X-rays:
German physicists discovered X-ray technology in 1895. Dr. Walkoff is credited with taking the first intr-oral xray in 1896. Interestingly enough, it took about 25 minutes of exposure time. People would sometimes lose their hair because of excess dental X-ray exposure. One of the people that should be given great credit for proposing dental X-rays - and the use of X-rays in dentistry is the dentist, Dr Charles Edmund Kells, Jr. He was proposing the usage of X-rays in dentistry. Dr. Kells started using dental X-rays in dentistry in the early part of the twentieth century. Interestingly enough, Dr Kells is also credited with coming up with the air blower technology, to dry teeth. Dr. Kells became sick from cancer due to excess radiation exposure. By the 1950s, dental X-rays became more commonly used. Hence, dental X-ray machines have not been around for that long. We will be in this local dentist article, discussing various dental imaging machines - in hopefully an easy-to-understand way. Most adults are used to the film being placed into the mouth, and a dental x-ray is taken. With more modern dental offices, instead of a film - there is a dental sensor that is placed into the mouth. To explain it simply, the dental sensor captures the image and is then seen on a computer screen.
Let's discuss some common dental imaging machines used in dentistry:
- Dental sensors / Intraoral X-ray sensors: The most common digital dental machine used to take dental X-rays of teeth. Dental sensors have been replacing the common dental X-ray films (still many dental offices use films). The big advantage of digital dental sensors is that less radiation can be used or exposed to the patient, and almost instantaneously the computer can see the dental X-ray image of the teeth. With the computer, there are many ways of focusing or enlarging the image - to see any abnormalities in the teeth. The local dentist can better see any cavity or teeth cavities occurring inside the tooth.
- Dental cone beam systems: Dental cone beams are used mostly for dental implant treatment planning and can have 3-D technology.
- Digital panoramic x-rays: The dental pan machine allows the dentist to capture the full dental arch in one single image. These are useful for seeing impacted wisdom teeth and abnormalities in the jaw under the teeth. They do come in 3-D as well. Pan X-ray machines are extra-oral machines, meaning that the X-ray is outside of the mouth. Pan X-rays can show the dentist many things, in a single image. The patient will sit or stand, and the panning machine goes around their face & head. The pan X-rays do not provide the necessary image consistency to show dentists of a tooth cavity. Hence, dentists will still need to take an intro-oral x-ray film picture or digital sensor x-ray, to see what is going on inside of the tooth.
- Ceph Orthodontics X-ray Machine Blogging - Cephalometric or Ceph X-ray: The ceph x-ray machine is used by orthodontists and general dentists who are providing orthodontic care for their patients. The ceph machine allows the dentist to understand better how orthodontics/braces will affect the jaw and the surrounding bone. Ceph machines are great to observe the growth patterns of the teeth. Many times, the dentist will take a ceph x-ray before starting orthodontic treatment, and another after the orthodontic treatment. Whether having braces or having some type of aligner such as Invisalign, your dentist or orthodontist will want to keep track of your dental orthodontic treatment progression. Using various dental imaging machines such as a ceph x-ray machine or pan x-ray machine helps with that.
In this local dental blog, we discussed new dentist technology helping in dental care, better dental supplies that dentists have access to, and the best dental machines for X-rays that dentists are using in dental imaging. Ceph x-ray chat, digital pan x-ray blog, and digital intra-oral sensors imaging blogging online in this dental blog. We will be doing more articles on new dental technologies @ DentalChat.
