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Why All the Fuss About Digital Radiography?
Each year dentists are bombarded with literally millions of dollars in paid advertising about digital radiography. Headlines you read might look like these: The Paperless Practice, Prepare for Real-Time Insurance Approval of Radiographs and Real Dentists Don’t Dip Anymore!
The purpose of these ads is to entice you into spending large sums of money on the latest evolution in dental diagnostics.
The facts are impressive:
1. There is a 90 percent reduction in the amount of radiation needed.
2. There is greater ease in storing each radiographic document in a permanent condition over the years, giving the dentist the ability to compare a sequence of the patient condition.
3. Making digital radiographs takes less time and has instant review capability by the doctor and the patient.
4. It is possible to use computer enhancement to better utilize the digital information for diagnosis.
But, the biggest reason for using digital dental radiographic technology rests in your darkroom.
The caustic chemicals used to develop and fix conventional radiographs are currently mixed with water to dilute them, and then flushed into the sewer systems all across America, but not for long. The Environmental Protection Administration is targeting dentistry to reduce, if not eliminate, dental office pollution that is beginning to tax our world’s water supply. Some people are even questioning patient saliva as a possible toxic material.
So if you want to be really creative in your practice of dentistry, make the technological changes in your office before the Feds change the rules. If we clean up our own act based upon our care for the environment, then we set the standard. Would you want your children to drink the water from your dental office after having only been processed your city’s water purification? Not me!
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