Look in a mirror and you are seeing maybe a third of each tooth. The sides where teeth touch each other, the roots, and the bone holding everything in place are all out of view.
That hidden part is where a surprising amount of trouble starts. Decay between two teeth can grow for a year or more without ever showing on a surface you can see.
Digital X-rays are how we look there. They take a few seconds each, appear on screen right away, and use a small fraction of the radiation older film X-rays needed. They are part of the preventive dentistry we provide here.
Have questions about whether you need them, or how much radiation is involved? Call (330) 492-7889 and ask. It is a fair question and we are glad to answer it.
What Are Digital Dental X-Rays?
Digital X-rays are images of your teeth and jaw captured by an electronic sensor instead of photographic film. The sensor sends the image straight to a computer, where it appears in about a second.
Because there is no film to develop, we can enlarge an area, adjust the contrast, and turn the screen toward you to show you what we are looking at. That last part matters more than it sounds. Seeing the shadow of a cavity yourself is different from being told one is there.
Digital sensors are far more sensitive than film, which means they need considerably less radiation to produce a usable image. A few small X-rays involve a very small dose, comparable to the natural background radiation you take in over the course of an ordinary day.
There are a couple of common types. Small images taken with the sensor between your teeth show the crowns and the contact points where decay hides. A larger panoramic image, taken from outside your mouth, shows the whole jaw at once, which is what we need when planning something like an implant or an extraction.
Problems Digital X-Rays Solve
- Decay between teeth. The single most common thing X-rays catch. Those surfaces touch, so nothing about a visual exam can reach them.
- Decay under an old filling or crown. Existing work hides what is happening underneath it. Old fillings do fail at the edges, and the decay that follows is invisible from above.
- Bone loss from gum disease. Gum disease destroys the bone anchoring your teeth. X-rays are the only way to see how much has gone and whether it is still going.
- Infection at a root tip. An abscess shows as a dark area at the end of a root, often before it causes real pain.
- Cracks and fractures below the gumline or inside a tooth that no visual check would find.
- Teeth that have not come in yet, including whether a child’s adult teeth are lined up and have room.
- Planning bigger work. A bridge, an implant, or a denture all depend on knowing what the bone underneath looks like first.
How Getting Digital X-Rays Works
- We talk about which images make sense for you, based on your history, your last set of X-rays, and anything specific we are checking.
- You wear a lead apron with a thyroid collar, which shields everything outside the small area being imaged.
- For small images, a sensor is placed inside your mouth and you bite gently to hold it steady.
- We step back, the exposure happens in a fraction of a second, and the image appears on the screen.
- We repeat for each area we need, usually only a few.
- For a panoramic image, you stand and the machine rotates around your head while you hold still. Nothing goes in your mouth.
- We put the images on the monitor and go through them with you, pointing out what is healthy and what needs attention.
The whole process usually adds only a few minutes to a visit.
Your Options for Dental X-Rays
The main choice is not really whether to use digital, it is how often and how many.
A first visit typically calls for a full set, because we have no history for you and nothing to compare against. That baseline becomes the reference for every visit afterward.
Routine checkup images are a smaller set, usually taken every so often rather than at every single cleaning. How often depends on you. Someone with a history of cavities, dry mouth, or gum disease needs images more often than someone whose teeth have been stable for a decade. We set the interval around your actual risk, not a fixed rule.
Panoramic images get taken when we need the wider view, most often for planning an implant, an extraction, or a denture, or for checking how a younger patient’s teeth are developing.
You can always decline or delay. If you would rather wait, say so. We will tell you plainly what we would be looking for and what the risk of waiting is, and then it is your call. What we will not do is treat you blind and pretend we have a full picture.
If you have had X-rays taken recently somewhere else, tell us. We can often request them rather than duplicating what already exists.
The Benefits of Getting This Done Right
X-rays taken at the right time change what treatment you need. Decay caught between two teeth while it is still in enamel is often a small filling. The same decay found after it has reached the nerve is a much bigger problem, and at this office it means a referral out, because we do not perform root canals here.
They also protect you from unnecessary work. A dark spot that looks worrying on the surface may be nothing but stain, and an X-ray can show that. Knowing what is not a problem has real value.
For anything larger, they are simply required. Placing an implant or fitting a bridge without knowing the bone underneath would be guesswork with your money.
And they give you something to look at. Most people find their own X-ray more convincing than any explanation, which makes deciding about treatment a lot easier.
How to Know You Need Dental X-Rays
X-rays are usually recommended as part of a visit rather than sought out on their own, but these situations call for them:
- It is your first visit here and we have no baseline for your mouth.
- It has been a long time since your last set, and nobody has looked below the surface in years.
- A tooth hurts and nothing visible explains why.
- A tooth is sensitive to biting pressure rather than just to cold.
- Your gums bleed or have pulled back, and we need to see whether bone has been lost.
- Food consistently catches in one spot, or floss shreds in the same place, which often means a cavity on a contact surface.
- You are considering an implant, bridge, denture, or extraction. These cannot be planned responsibly without images.
- A child’s teeth look crowded or seem to be coming in out of sequence.
- You have had a blow to the mouth, where a root fracture may exist without anything looking wrong.
Urgent versus routine. Routine images fit inside a regular checkup. But pain with swelling, a tooth that hurts to bite on, or a mouth injury should be looked at promptly, and images are usually part of that same visit. Call us and describe what is happening, and we will treat it as urgent.
What waiting actually costs. This is where X-rays earn their place. Decay in enamel is often reversible or fixable with a small filling. Once it crosses into the dentin underneath, it moves faster because that layer is softer. Reach the nerve and the options narrow sharply, and at that point the tooth needs either a root canal, which we refer out for, or removal. The gap between “small filling” and “referral or extraction” is often about a year of not looking. Bone loss from gum disease follows the same arc, except that bone does not come back once it is gone.
What we see that you cannot. Practically everything on this list. You cannot see between your own teeth, under a filling you already have, at the tip of a root, or inside your jawbone. We can compare this year’s image against last year’s and spot a shadow that has grown by a millimeter, which is the whole point of a baseline.
Questions worth asking yourself. When did anyone last look below the surface of my teeth? Is there a spot where food always catches? Have I had a tooth that hurts when I bite, even briefly? Do I have old fillings from a long time ago that nobody has checked?
When X-rays are the right step, and when they are not. They are the right step whenever a decision depends on what is under the surface. They are not a substitute for a cleaning and exam, they are one part of it. And if you have recent images from another office, the right step is getting those rather than taking new ones. We will ask.
What Do Digital X-Rays Cost?
Cost depends on how many images are taken and what kind. A small set during a routine checkup and a full first-visit series are different, and a panoramic image is priced on its own.
X-rays generally sit alongside preventive care in how dental plans handle them, and plans often limit how frequently they are covered. We go over your benefits and your coverage with you before anything is taken, so you know what to expect.
We take cash, check, and credit cards, and we offer CareCredit financing for larger treatment plans.
Insurance carriers accepted have not been confirmed for this practice yet, so no plan or coverage level is named here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are digital dental X-rays safe?
The dose is very small, considerably lower than older film X-rays required, and you wear a lead apron and thyroid collar during the exposure. We also only take the images we actually need, which is the other half of keeping the dose low.
How often will I need them?
It depends on your history rather than the calendar. Someone prone to cavities or with gum disease needs them more often than someone whose mouth has been stable for years. We will tell you what we are recommending and why.
Can I get X-rays while pregnant?
Tell us if you are pregnant or think you may be. Routine images are usually postponed, though an urgent problem may still need imaging, with extra shielding. We will make that decision with you, not for you.
Do X-rays hurt?
No. The sensor for the smaller images can feel awkward against the roof of your mouth or under your tongue for a few seconds. Tell us if it is uncomfortable and we will reposition it.
Can I see my own X-rays?
Yes, and we would rather you did. They go up on the screen and we walk through them with you. Ask us to enlarge anything you want a closer look at.
Can you use X-rays from my previous dentist?
Often, yes. Tell us where they were taken and roughly when, and we will request them instead of duplicating them.
Do children need dental X-rays?
Sometimes, and less often than adults. They help us see whether adult teeth have room and are coming in correctly. We use the smallest number of images that answers the question.
Related Services
Digital X-rays support most of what happens here:
- Routine cleanings and exams are where most X-rays get taken.
- Dental fillings repair the decay X-rays find between teeth.
- Periodontal care relies on X-rays to measure bone loss.
- Dental implants cannot be planned without imaging the bone first.
- Tooth extractions are planned from an image of the root and the surrounding bone.
Schedule Your Visit in North Canton
If it has been a while since anyone looked below the surface of your teeth, that is worth fixing. Request an appointment online or call (330) 492-7889, and we will start with a look at where things actually stand.
