At Valley Dental & Orthodontics, we are always striving to keep up with technology. In doing so, we are helping our patients and the environment.
All of you know that we have an intraoral digital x-ray sensor. Digital x-rays are beneficial to dentists because they reduce the time it takes for us to view an image. Traditional x-ray films take as long as 5 minutes to develop, whereas, digital images take as little as 5 seconds. However, the biggest advantage to digital radiography is the tremendous reduction of radiation exposed to our patients.
We are pleased to announce that we have recently purchased a new DIGITAL panoramic/cephalometric x-ray machine. This x-ray machine takes images extra-orally (the sensor/x-ray film is outside of the mouth). Film based panoramic/cephalometric x-rays take about 10 minutes to develop, and with our new digital system, we can now see these images in about 15 seconds. Once again, the biggest advantage is the significant reduction in the amount of radiation exposed to you, our patient.
Another impact for going digital is environmental. We no longer have developer and fixer on site, which are the chemicals that were needed to develop film x-rays. Because these two chemicals are considered hazardous materials, they can only be properly disposed of by companies that are specialized in handling these materials.
