Digital X-Rays: Bringing Back the WOW Factor

Living in the highly technological world that we do today – with laptops, iPhones, space rovers and ever shrinking tablets – products described as “advanced” and “state-of-the-art” and “digital” are underappreciated, and often taken for granted. Individuals 20 years old and under really have no recollection of a world without any of those things, and those between the ages of 20 and 30 have only a dim memory of the bygone days when Nintendo was all the rage. Even those folks in their middle-ages are beginning to forget that life was once devoid of cell phones ringing, internet wires buzzing and iHomes blaring. Because of the pervasive presence of technology, there is no “WOW” factor when something new is introduced to a particular field—in this case, dentistry.

Technology, no matter how “common” it has become in the past two decades, still presents some great opportunities and exponential benefits to the people that use it. Digital x-rays are just one of the many new inventions that are proving to be extremely valuable to the dental field.

What it is:

Digital Radiography is an x-ray system that combines the four traditional methods of taking pictures of all sides of your teeth, gums and jaw, into one comfortable, easy, simple to use technology. Not only does the digital x-ray system not require the highly uncomfortable, sometimes painful “Bitewings” that the old way of doing things did, but it sends the pictures it receives directly to a computer, where they are immediately recorded and saved. This handy feature makes it easy for us to pull up your x-rays on a moment’s notice – to send them out to a specialist without fear that they’ll get lost en route – and to better explain to you what is going on in your mouth.

What this means for you:

You may be thinking to yourself, “So what? My iPhone can take pictures and send them to someone 500 miles away in two seconds (if I have 4G).” Yes, this is true – cellular devices and computers have come a long ways since their initial conception 20+ years ago, but with digital dental x-rays, we’re talking about being able to see all that is wrong with your teeth, gums and jaw – of getting a glimpse of your mouth’s anatomy – and of truly being able to get to the root of your problem in a single snapshot.

If that’s not impressive enough, there are a slew of other advantages to digital x-rays. Some of the greatest advantages are to your health, and the health of the environment – with digital x-rays, there are no chemicals and no film, which means reduced exposure to radiation for you and no more chemically charged trash for our planet.

Another bonus is time: Digital x-rays are way less time consuming than the standard way of taking x-rays. This means less waiting time, shorter appointments and increased productivity, for you and us. This also means more chair side time (before, we had to run in and out of the treatment room, taking photos – checking photos), which results in an involved, co-diagnosis and a better understanding of your treatment.

Okay, so digital x-rays aren’t as exciting as the newest tablet, or as revolutionary as a hovercraft (I’m still waiting for those, by the way), but they provide more dental health benefits than you may ever know – and that is fine by us. We understand that dentistry generally isn’t something that people get hyped up about, and that the newest dental technologies are no exception – for us though, what make digital x-rays great is the simple fact that, because of them, we are able to engage you, and show you your mouth as we see it. And that, at least, is a step in the right direction.