Everything is going digital!

I'm simply amazed at the way digital technology is advancing these days. I just got back from my cleaning and six month checkup at the dentist. I was due for X-rays so she draped the lead gown over me and pulled the X-ray machine over. But she went over to the cabinet where the computer monitor sits and grabbed a little black puck that was plugged into a USB port mounted on the side of the cabinet. She asked me to open so I did. She placed the puck in my mouth, aligned it and said "bite down". I did and she left the room, pushed the button, instantaneously an X-ray image of my teeth appeared on the monitor sitting on the cabinet. Simply amazing!

After my cleaning I told her that I was having a bit of a sensitivity issue with one particular tooth. She then grabbed what looked like a small electric toothbrush that was also connected to a USB port. She stuck in my mouth and took three or four closeup high-res pictures of the tooth. They too immediately showed up on the screen. This stuff is pretty awesome!

It is indeed, and I am all in favour of it.

However, it will take a long time before we can all benefit from it. For instance, my brother John is a dentist (a very good one) but I am certain that no one will drag him into the digital age (he only just started using the internet this year). Oh well, John and his fellow Ludites will retire in the near future.

digital is good and bad,, the old days of film vrs digital film is more lasting in some cases and the digital can be gone in an instant.. like a puter crash and its all history..let alone the jobs that digital have taken away.. just another view of todays new age..

Larry, I maintain that digital technology has created more jobs than it has taken away. There is no problem at all maintaining digital data if one properly backs it up.

Yep, my doc has been using digital X-rays for a while. The one "issue" he pointed out to me is that they're so good, and you can blow them up so much on the computer screen, you can make a small defect on a tooth look like a major issue. He didn't go any further but what he was saying was that an unscrupulous dentist could use digital X-rays to drill into your wallet.

Mike

I agree with you 100 percent on the unscrupulous docs. I have seen it in optometry and ophthalmology, why would dentistry be any different. I don't remember it exactly, however, 20 or 30 years ago it was published that something like 75 percent of all tonsillectomy surgeries were not needed. There was another huge percentage for appendectomies. Why can't people play nice? We would all be better off---even the ones that would be crooks.

Enjoy,

JimB

I just went to the dentist and they still use the old film method. The thing that I cannot figure out is the cyber knife that is used in some brain surgeries. It is beyond me how a laser beam can cut in an area 1-2" deep but not make a cut path to get there. A great tool none the less.

Rex, it all has to do with the beam being in or out of focus.
But I will say, that not all digital exams have anything to do with hi-tech or even anything electrical. Guys over 40, think about that the next time you go in for a yearly physical.... ......... Jim.