Say Ahhhh: Dental clinic transitions to digital X-ray system

  • Published
  • By Meredith March
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. -- --  The 66th Dental Clinic recently took a technological leap by transitioning from the conventional film radiography to digital radiography. Now, instead of using the film to X-ray patients' pearly whites, the clinic's dentists and dental technicians are encouraging patients to gently bite down on digital sensors, which return instantaneous images for aid in diagnosis. 

The digital system is proving beneficial to the dental clinic in myriad ways, said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Salvatore Cutino, 66th Medical Group Dental Flight commander. The greatest benefit is the amount of time the digital images save dentists and technicians during appointments. "The biggest advantage of this whole process is time. If there were no other advantage than just that, I'd still go digital. It's amazing how much time it saves. 

"We used to have to take the film, walk it down to a dark room and develop it -- the patient is waiting while this is going on -- at a minimum of 15 minutes from start to finish. Now, the technician can snap the picture and provide an image instantly on the computer screen. This allows the doctor to continue working with little delay; this system is much easier to work with." 

Another advantage of the digital radiography system is that digital images can be manipulated for clarity, to increase diagnostic value and patient education. Doctors can zoom in on and magnify an area of the tooth or bone, adjust images' contrasts and even invert the images' colors for diagnostic purposes, the colonel said. Useful tools, such as a ruler, in the software help dentists determine the length of the root of a tooth, which is necessary during root canal treatment. 

The digital system also eliminates the hazardous elements of taking and processing traditional film X-rays. 

"With traditional films, the patients were exposed to very low levels of radiation. Now, using the digital sensors, they receive 70 to 80 percent less exposure," Colonel Cutino said. Additionally, digital radiography eliminates the necessity for technicians to handle harmful processing chemicals and byproducts, "There will be no more chemicals, such as fixer and developer, and no more lead foil, which is part of the traditional film, which are considered hazardous waste and required very specific and time consuming disposal procedures," the colonel said. 

All dental clinics in the Air Force will eventually use the digital system, Colonel Cutino said. In addition, all digital dental records and images will be stored on a central server, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and will be accessible from any Air Force dental clinic. 

"Wherever we are, be it at a deployed or [permanent change of station] location, we can access the films from the central location. The system is ideal for PCSs," Colonel Cutino said. Civilian dentists' digital records will not be connected to the central servers, however, so base personnel and dependants who go to civilian providers must request printed or disc copies of their records prior to departing the area when deploying or PCSing, the colonel said.