Digital X-Rays in Salt Lake City, UT

At Brighton Dental in Salt Lake City, Utah, we regularly take digital X-rays during routine checkup appointments. Digital X-rays are vital to your dental care treatment as they reveal the critical changes happening beneath your teeth and gums as well as the exteriors. This makes digital X-rays a tremendous preventative and diagnostic tool.

What Are the Uses of Digital X-Rays?

The following are the uses of digital X-rays:

• Detect cavities and decay
• Define the health of bone around a tooth
• Look at tooth roots
• Detect periodontal disease
• Provide detailed images of developing teeth

Why Use Digital X-Rays?

We use digital X-rays to produce a digital image instantly, while traditional dental X-ray film takes time to be developed. The digital X-rays make available on-the-spot images. So, when additional detailed images are required, taking an X-ray becomes more accessible with the digital method.

Besides this, digital X-rays emit much less radiation than traditional X-ray machines, and they provide a superior-quality image compared to that of conventional methods. These digital copies can be stored in your dental file, making them very easy to transfer to another dental office if required.

What Are the Types of Digital X-Rays?

There are two major types of digital X-rays: intraoral and extraoral. Intraoral X-rays capture the inside images of the mouth while extraoral X-rays are used for outside. Intraoral is the more frequently used digital X-rays because they provide:

• A high level of detail.
• Reveal a lot about your teeth.
• Analyze the bone and other tissues in the mouth

X-rays help to capture the various angles of the mouth to get a better view. The following are some of the different X-ray views that may be captured of your oral cavity:

• Periapical: These images allow us to view a complete tooth, together with the supporting bone structure
• Panoramic: With this kind of X-ray, we can see all of your teeth that include your jaw joints, sinuses, and nasal and jaw area. 
• Bite-Wing: These X-rays capture the top and bottom teeth in the deep insides of the mouth.
• Occlusal: They are used to show children’s tooth development, and images of upper and lower jaw bite.

Are Digital X-Rays Unsafe?

As mentioned above, digital X-rays expose you to a basic minimum level of radiation. Also, today’s technology allows the digital X-ray beam to be exceptionally focused so that other sections of your body are not exposed. In addition, one of our dental professionals will place a lead apron over your body to protect it from stray radiation.

For more questions about digital X-rays, call Brighton Dental in Salt Lake City, Utah, at (801) 943-2020 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Carroll.