You’ve found Waterloo’s premier dental care facility – Waterloo Dental Centre. The only way to keep your teeth in good condition is to brush and floss them twice daily, not just once. Exams and cleanings performed by a dentist are essential to preserving a beautiful smile. Your dentist should routinely use dental X-rays to keep your teeth and gums healthy. To maintain strong teeth and healthy gums, it’s essential to get regular dental X-rays, as we’ll discuss in this post.
How Do Dental X-Rays Work?
Low-radiation images of your teeth, gums, and jawbone are captured in dental X-rays, also known as dental radiography. Dentists can use these photos to uncover issues that would be missed during a visual examination alone. Oral health problems can be better diagnosed and treated with the help of dental X-rays since they provide a clear image of the tooth, root, jawbone, and surrounding tissues.
Kind of Dental Radiographs
Many dental X-rays serve several functions:
Bitewing X-Rays
These X-rays provide a side-by-side view of the upper and lower back teeth, allowing the dentist to detect cavities, gum disease, and bone loss more easily.
Exposed to X-Rays Only at the Periphery
Dentists can use these X-rays to look at a single tooth thoroughly, from the tip down to the bone that supports it.
Radiology Panos
Panoramic X-rays help with evaluating wisdom teeth, locating jaw anomalies, and planning dental procedures because they reveal the entire mouth at once.
Occlusal X-Rays
which can be obtained from either the top or the bottom of the mouth, are used to detect problems with the bite, missing teeth, and impacted teeth.
An X-Ray Cone Beam Computed Tomography Scan (CBCT)
Three-dimensional scans of the teeth, soft tissues, nerves, and bone can provide invaluable information for modern dentistry operations including dental implants and oral surgery.
Why Dental X-Rays Are Necessary
Maintaining healthy teeth and gums requires routine dental X-rays.
Issues Revealed That Have Been Hidden
Cavities between teeth or underfillings, impacted teeth, cysts, and tumours are just a few examples of dental problems that could go undetected during a routine oral exam. Dentists can use X-rays to look for issues before they become untreatable thanks to this technology.
Assessing the State of Dental Care
X-rays can monitor a wide range of dental issues, including tooth decay, gum disease, and bone loss. They have a second purpose in helping us track our kids’ tooth development. Dentists can monitor the progress of their patients’ treatments with the help of X-rays and make any required adjustments.
Dental Care Provided Indirectly
Dental X-rays are crucial for making diagnoses and planning treatments for dental problems. They’re helpful because their data can be used to modify treatment plans based on the unique characteristics of each patient’s teeth, jaw, and roots.
Caution and Worry
Dental X-rays provide a potential health risk for some patients due to the radiation they are exposed to. Nonetheless, the radiation from today’s dental X-ray machines is so low as to be completely safe for patients. Digital X-rays, which are increasingly employed in dental offices, significantly reduce patients’ radiation exposure. By adhering to the ALARA concept (As Little As Reasonably Achievable), dentists can reduce their patients’ radiation exposure while still gathering useful diagnostic data from X-rays.
If a woman becomes pregnant, she should tell her dentist so that further measures can be taken to ensure that her unborn child is not subjected to radiation. There is widespread continued confidence that dental X-rays during pregnancy are safe.
Is There an Appropriate Time to Have a Dental X-Ray?
Age, oral health, and individual needs all play a role in determining how often you should have dental X-rays. Your dentist will determine how often you need to see him or her, depending on the condition of your teeth and gums and the risk of any issues. If you have a history of dental issues, you may need to get regular X-rays done, but those with a healthy mouth need not.
Children and teenagers should get dental X-rays more frequently than adults since their teeth are still developing and they are more likely to have cavities. But, your dentist will advise you on an X-ray schedule that is best for your child after considering his or her individual needs.
Concluding Remarks
X-rays are crucial to the lifelong health of one’s teeth and gums. They aid in the diagnosis of previously unsuspected issues, the tracking of the evolution of preexisting oral diseases, and the navigation of a variety of dental operations. Because to advancements in technology and increased attention to patient safety, today’s dental X-rays are completely safe and can yield helpful diagnostic data.
You can trust Waterloo Dental Centre to offer comprehensive dental care because we care about you and the health of your smile. Please call us at 519-883-0505 if you have any questions concerning Dental X-Rays or any other area of your oral health. Helping you get the stunning grin you’ve always wanted is our priority.
DISCLAIMER: The advice offered is intended to be informational only and generic in nature. It is in no way offering a definitive diagnosis or specific treatment recommendations for your particular situation. Any advice offered is no substitute for proper evaluation and care by a qualified dentist.