Digitized - DP 1
I have decided to do atleast one dentall post a month from hereon. That doesn’t mean there will not be more than one. But atleast one.
Technology can be a boon sometimes, especially for healthcare. MRIs aid in early diagnosis of cancer, prothetic appliances help diabled individuals to move around with ease, hearing aids help people hear the sounds they would not hear otherwise, contact lenses free people of tagging a pair of glasses around all the time, and even better laser surgery frees you from corrective lenses altogether!
Needless to say, dentistry has had its fair share of technological advances. Ultrasonic instruments, digital intraoral images, and my topic of discussion here today - digital radiographs or “x-rays”.
If you have been to a dentist and she or he has ever taken radiographs of your teeth, you might have noticed them looking at a tiny square piece that looks like a photo negative of “x-ray”. That has advanced and dentists dont need to look at those tiny little things anymore. They take ages to process, expose the patient to way too much radiation, you have to be in a dark room to process it, they are too small to look at and if its come out a little dark, well too bad you cant do anything about it.
Latest radiographs out there are digital ones. Take a sensor (with a cover ofcourse). Place it in the patient’s mouth, press the button, place it in the processor and boom you have an image on your screen. Something that looks like this:
With these, you can enlarge them, enhance it by color, contrast, you do not have to carry them around, you can flip the image to look at it vertically, and you can reuse the same sensor over and over again.
I have processed the traditional films in a dark room and processed the sensors in a scanning machine, seen both the tiny films and the digital images. Best of all, latest radiograph sensors are high speed and do not need a lot of radiation exposure for these! You can set the exact amount of exposure you want for certain areas of the mouth. This digitization is not restricted to dentistry, doctors have been doing this now for years!
Little things like this excite me. Now, why would one care about x-rays at all?
Well, several things, a few of which I will mention here. If you have a cavity beginning to form, bone loss around the teeth, crooked teeth, some abnormality in the tooth, lesions at the tip of the root, if you want to see unerupted teeth, it can all be seen in these radiographs! It is all here!
Several kinds of “x-rays” are taken! My favourite is the panoramic where radiation is exposed all around a persons head to give a good image of their complete dentition where you can see all of them teeth! Something that looks like this:
In the picture above, the last four teeth (last one on each side) have not come out yet and if this person opened their mouth you would not even notice these four!But you can see them so clearly here! See that top left one, that is kinda pushing on the root of the tooth next to it, thats probably going to have to be pulled out once its erupts out of the gum. and see how perfectly aligned they are ;);) all mine 
Sorry people if this was so boring that you wanted to pull your teeth errrr hair out…but teeth are the one thing I am most passionate about!
Me First again!!
Why are you scaring us Kaushie? I hate dentists unless she is a HOT gal like you…(it’s supposed to be taken in good way…he he). I will come and read laterz…**hiding under my closet** {Why is my freaking teacher not coming to solve my problem. I am bored}
Ahem! BTW did you forget to mention about the two vacant positions in the middle of your upper teeth row? :p
BTW what happens if a person forgets to wear his/her denture while posing(?) for the photo (well actually ‘x-ray’ but hamare liye to kaala akshar bhains baraabar :p)? The magnetic rays would escape through his/her mouth giving a blank picture?
Ok ok.. I know that was a pathetic attempt at a rotten PJ… will you stop grinding your teeth now? 
Aargh! I mean one post this graphic everytime kya!!! * mumbles, better keep out of this blog on that day*
No Wonder… only someone who is so passionate about teeth would have posted something on a topic like this…
ahaa.. I was jus thinknig of going to a dentist… and here I’m getting some lessons..
actually, have a cavity problem and got to get it sorted and am little afraid of dentists as I’d have to keep my mouth open for long time while they grind our teeth with some weird looknig tools
well now..thats what i call public education. good going, kaush, from one in the public edn business, though in another area
oh how cool.. interesting stuff… lol and yeah..should i say.. what a gorgeous mouth! hehe just kidding!
Hey RICKY–get the gold again. And whaaayT? I am soo not scaring you at all! it is what it is..and you have to like a dentist to like me! :P:P and dont hate dentists..you never know which one will free of a lot of pain ///and money
haha FUNDOO…very phunny! and that was sarcastic
hehe..anyways..there is NO gap in betwee wokay?! you better be prepared for a fight when you meet me now..and LOL…dentures bhool gaye toh…well hmm errr…lets just leave that!
GEEEE DJ!!! sudhar jao! and you better be here looking at these pictures kuch seekho!and now that you mention it..i might just do two or three posts instead of just one
ITNL...you break my heart..something like “this” ***crying*** haha but yes i am very passionate…i mean why do something you dont like ? right?
see Prasad — you got it! make sure you go and get that cavity filled! good luck with the appointmetn! just relax theek hai…and dont be scared ! am i scary /…no? right? hehe
RS — thanks! i am a huge proponent of public education! kudos to you too! and what field is yours if i may ask?
LOL gnextdooor! thanks so much for not saying yuck like Deeejaaay **glaring at him!***
and haha yea!gorgeous mouth allright
right…
Wow!! Awesome photographs.. i guess, i should use them as wallpaper on my laptop
Why I’m not able to see my comment?
Very nice use of technology. I had assumed that Digital Technology must have been used in dentistry too like they use it for other parts of the body. This is a really good news for dentists because working on such a small area is always difficult, so this technology will for sure help them take some stress out of the job.
Nice and clear images will also improve the quality of dental treatment.
Good one Kaushie…:-)
hahah MANPREET , indeed you should put them up as your wallpaper!!! would be your tribute to the profession of dentistry!!
thanks RICKY! chalo atleast you didnt get scared! haha
Now that is a Million Dollar Smile!! One question still remains unanswered - the longest crown seen so far?
my god.. kaush what r those scary pics.. eeks.. the 2nd oen is close to a ghost snap.. BTW aren’t these snaps of a jaw while eating a pizza.. lol
oh on second look the second pic seems to have your features.. did u tried the equipment on you for the sake of posting the pic on blog..??
LOL Encrypted–indeed it is a million dollar smile and the answer to that question shall remain unanswered ;);)unles syou wanna answer it your self huh?
Chandu!!!!! u devil! you wont give up on the pizza deal right? hahaha and it is SO not a ghost snap!and haha does it really have my features? so are you trying to call me a ghost? is that waht you areimplying huh? huh? HUH? lemme talkto auntyji and complain about you!!!!
hi kaush, did not get any of it. but now I think even I should start writing about income tax.
hahaha haha..yea maybe you should…I did it for the kicks…:-D and really if you write abour income tax..merebhi sab upar se jaayega! try it