Digital X-rays in San Pablo, CA

X-rays are an essential part of any dental practice because they give dentists the ability to view teeth beneath the gum line. However, traditional film x-rays limit what dentists can see. While they can view the tooth and jaw, they don’t show the nerves, soft tissues, or tooth structures. Instead of traditional film x-rays, most dentists now use digital x-rays.

How are Digital X-rays Taken?

When a patient gets digital x-rays at our practice, iSmile Dental San Pablo in San Pablo, CA, the process isn’t much different than getting film x-rays. One of our dental assistants will seat you in the chair that sits at the machine and place a sensor in your mouth. The sensor has a wire that attaches to a computer that receives the images and displays them.

The machine includes an arm that moves in an arc from one side of your jaw to another, capturing images of the structures of the mouth along with your teeth. Instead of needing five to 10 minutes to process film x-rays, the digital images are available almost instantly, and there aren’t any chemicals needed to process them.

Easier to Enhance Images

Another advantage of taking images digitally is being able to enhance them so that our San Pablo dentists at iSmile San Pablo can better view them on screen. There’s no need to take other x-rays to get a better view of a tooth to look at small fractures or areas of decay.

Instead, our dentists near you in San Pablo, CA can change the brightest or contrast of the images by manipulating the settings on the screen.

Easier to Share Images with Specialists

If you need to go to a dental specialist for surgery or another procedure, then the specialist doesn’t need to take additional x-rays. Instead, our San Pablo dentists from iSmile San Pablo in San Pablo, CA can share the images with the specialist digitally.

They can then compile all your information together so that they can develop a treatment plan before you set foot in their office. Digital x-rays allow dentists to get a better view of your teeth and develop the best treatment plan to repair your teeth to improve your health and appearance.