Dental Xrays Colorado Springs

People have the conception that dental offices push unnecessary x rays on their patients. While this can sometimes be true, I need to say that x rays truly are necessary at certain intervals to be able to see problems before they surface as pain or infection.

At Serene Dental Hygiene, we follow the recommendations of the American Dental Association for taking dental radiographs.

Reasons to take them include:

• Finding decay in between the teeth or under existing fillings
• Finding an abscess (infection) before it becomes severe and painful.
• Checking roots of the teeth for abnormalities
• Checking for oral/cancer lesions which are deep in tissue or bone, not seen by the naked eye.
• Checking your periodontal status, meaning checking the bone levels around all teeth.
• Looking to see if you have calculus (tartar) down under the gums at the bone level to help determine your periodontal status.
• At Serene Dental Hygiene, We have state of the art Digital Dental x rays equipment and intraoral camera technology. We can take Bitewing and Periapical x rays as well as panoramic x rays.

Bitewing x rays are used mostly to detect decay in between your teeth or under existing fillings as well as to see your bone levels. Periapical x rays are taken to check the roots of the teeth and to check for infection. Panoramic x rays are taken every 3-5 years as an oral cancer screening to check for lesions in the bone or deep in the tissues. Panoramic x rays are also used to evaluate for appropriate need and times for wisdom teeth extractions or orthodontics.

Digital x rays cut down substantially on the amount of radiation needed to see what we need to see for a definitive diagnosis. Educated comparisons are made that people get more radiation walking out in the sunshine or riding in an airplane than they do from dental x rays. Before digital technology came about, radiation from dental x rays was much more of a concern.

While we strongly encourage following the ADA guidelines, we also will respect your opinions and wishes to decline those recommendations and will require that you sign a release form stating your refusal of x rays. In some cases, if we feel we would be negligent in not taking necessary x rays due to clinical findings, we might need to suggest you seek treatment in another office.

We are here to answer any questions you might have and discuss your concerns.

At Serene Dental Hygiene, we use a State of the Art Intra-oral camera which magnifies what we are looking at so we can detect cracks, decay, and oral cancer lesions before they become so large as to need more extensive treatment. I can take pictures of receded gums or inflammation to show you why you might need periodontal treatment. It’s nice to take a picture of an early stage issue on a tooth and be able to compare what it looks like at each visit. The Intra-oral camera is invaluable to me for use to educate my patients and to communicate with dentists or specialists to show them what I am seeing to help them decide if a referral to their office is really necessary.

But what I love most about the camera is that it brings a new level of trust to my relationships with my patients. When I can show the patient what the decay or cracks look like on their teeth, they believe it. I don’t have to ask them to trust my word for it. I’m very proud to have this state of the art digital technology and I love to use it. Patients are amazed at how much it helps them to understand what I am showing them. I’m sure you will be as well.