X-Ray
Dental X-rays can help your dentist detect oral health issues, like cavities and gum disease, before they worsen. There are many different types of dental X-rays, including intraoral (taken inside your mouth) and extraoral (taken outside your mouth). Dental X-rays are essential to proper oral health and maintenance.
How do dental X-rays work?
Like X-rays taken in other parts of your body, dental X-rays use electromagnetic radiation to capture images of your mouth. The radiation beam passes through your soft tissues and creates images of your teeth and bones.
Dental X-rays may be traditional (taken with film) or digital (taken with digital sensors and a computer). Digital dental X-rays use 80% to 90% less radiation compared to traditional dental X-ray machines.
What can dental X-rays detect?
Dental X-rays help your dentist diagnose a wide range of oral health issues.
Dental X-rays show:
- Cavities, especially small areas of decay between teeth.
- Decay beneath existing fillings.
- Bone loss in your jaw.
- Areas of infection.
- The position of unerupted or impacted teeth.
- Abscessed teeth (infection at the root of your tooth or between your gums and your tooth).
- Cysts and some types of tumors.
Dentists also use X-rays to help determine your eligibility for treatments like dental implants, braces or dentures. X-rays help your dentist check healing after certain procedures, too, such as dental bone grafts and root canal therapy.