Dental News

Panoramic X-rays, a comprehensive view of your teeth and jaws

January 23, 2020

Panoramic X-rays, a comprehensive view of your teeth and jaws

Many people are not aware of the condition of their dental health because they either skip out on regular checkups or just too busy with work, or dental phobia. Not seeing a dentist regularly can be detrimental to your dental health. The health of your teeth is not always noticeable by visual inspection. This situation can result in periodontal disease, tooth decay, or other dental disease worsening over time. Panoramic dental imaging gives your dentist the power to see more than the local area X-ray using a single film one set at a time.

Panoramic dental imaging has improved significantly over the years

Advancement in dental imaging technology has made going to the dentist for an oral exam and diagnosis of dental disease less invasive. New imaging technology such as panoramic X-rays have become very useful for diagnosing and detecting early stages of dental disease. Unlike traditional intraoral X-rays, a panoramic dental X-ray will take an image of your entire mouth without using dental X-ray films inside your mouth. The images are taken on a machine outside of your mouth. The X-ray machine will rotate in a semi-circle around your face to image the teeth. Once the image is taken, your dentist will have full view of your entire jaw and teeth.

Panoramic dental X-ray can help detect early dental problems.

Early detection and treatment can prevent you from needing more complex dental procedures. Early panoramic X-rays were not as accurate as the standard X-rays, but panoramic X-rays have significantly improved since its early use. Panoramic X-rays allows the dentist to examine your entire mouth and teeth in a single image. This reduces the number of X-rays your dentist has to take. The advantage of panoramic X-rays provides your dentist a high spatial resolution of your teeth. This makes detection of periodontitis, dental caries, and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) more precise. The use of panoramic X-ray has been demonstrated to be effective at evaluating parts of teeth that cannot be visually examined. Some parts of the mouth are covered with soft tissue, and it is easy to underestimate oral diseases such as periodontal disease in their early stages. This means that visual inspection cannot always detect dental diseases that are beneath the gum line. If you dislike the feel or intrusiveness of traditional X-rays, a panoramic X-ray is a simple and less intrusive way to examine your teeth on your next dental visit.

If you are due for your next dental examine, call California Dental Group at (800) 407-0161 to make an appointment and learn how we can make your next visit more pleasant.

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