There are two main types of dental x-rays: intraoral (meaning the x-ray film is inside the mouth) and extraoral (meaning the x-ray film is outside the mouth). Intraoral x-rays are the most common type of dental x-ray taken. These x-rays provide a lot of detail and allow your dentist to find cavities, check the health of the tooth root and bone surrounding the tooth, check the status of developing teeth, and monitor the general health of your teeth and jawbone. Extraoral x-rays show teeth, but their main focus is the jaw and skull. A new set of portable dental x rays machine may be needed to help your dentist detect any new cavities, determine the status of your gum health or evaluate the growth and development of your teeth.
If a previous dentist has any radiographs of you, your new dentist may ask you for copies of them. Ask both dentists to help you with forwarding your x-rays. These x-rays do not provide the detail found with intraoral x-rays and therefore are not used for detecting cavities or for identifying problems with individual teeth. Instead, extraoral x-rays are used to look for impacted teeth, monitor growth and development of the jaws in relation to the teeth, and to identify potential problems between teeth and jaws and the temporomandibular joint (TMJ, see temporomandibular disorders for more information) or other bones of the face. If you are a new patient, the dentist may recommend x-rays to determine the present status of your oral health and have a baseline to help identify changes that may occur later. The high cost of x-ray units makes them economically out of reach for some practices, particularly those in rural areas with small patient bases or in developing countries.
Fortunately, portable radiography systems can bring these services to practices that lack them. But do portable units perform as well as their stationary counterparts? The industry got shaken up a few years ago with the appearance of ”budget” models on various web shops. These machines were offered on prices even 10x lower than the standard brands. Studies in US and UK showed that these products’s radiation emission were way over limits, so additional legislation was passed on the import of portable x-ray machines. Dental x-rays are a useful dentist equipment for sale tool when helping your dentist detect damage and disease not visible during a regular dental exam. How often X-rays should be taken depends on your present oral health, your age, your risk for disease, and any signs and symptoms of oral disease. For example, children may require x-rays more often than adults because their teeth and jaws are still developing and their teeth are more likely to be affected by tooth decay than those of adults. Your dentist will review your history, examine your mouth and then decide whether or not you need x-rays.