Dear Imaging Insider,
If you don't have a digital panoramic x-ray system, you may be depriving both your patients and your pocketbook. In fact, purchasing a digital panoramic x-ray machine could be the best investment you'll make since graduating from dental school.
But which one should you buy? Part I of our two-part series, "Perfect panoramics," will help guide you through the decision-making process (click here). As contributing editor Fred Gebhart points out, you get what you pay for in terms of features and automation in digital pan machines. All of the commercially available panoramic systems produce diagnostically useful images, but some offer attractive options such as built-in upgrade capability to conebeam computed tomography. Other optional features include customizable software that can be tailored to specific patient populations, and a range of equipment sizes.
As an Imaging Insider, you can gain insight into the best digital pan system for your practice before the rest of our DrBicuspid.com members have access to the same information. In fact, as a subscriber to the Imaging Insider service, you have "first dibs" on our Insider Exclusive stories every few weeks.
In another Imaging Community story, researchers from the University of Missouri at Kansas City have developed an innovative way to evaluate which digital radiography sensors yield the best results for endodontists. Their conclusion? Wireless. To read about how wireless sensors can give you more imaging bang for your buck, click here.
Tips for improving contrast, density, distance, angle, bitewings, and other nagging x-ray issues were the topic of a session at the recent California Dental Association meeting in Anaheim, CA, attended by Senior Editor Laird Harrison. Read his coverage of Dr. Brad Potter's talk here. And you can learn even more about how to take picture-perfect x-rays here.
Finally, with the emergence of next-generation imaging systems that can dramatically improve early detection and diagnosis of caries and oral cancer, as well as planning for implants, the dental community needs to prepare itself for new ways of doing old things. Get a head start with our two-part series, "Do you need conebeam CT?"
There are many other interesting and useful stories in our Imaging Community. Be sure to check them out. We're also eager to learn what other topics are on your mind. Feel free to send us your feedback and ideas anytime!
