1.  Fractures of the teeth and/or jaws can be seen when it is difficult to open your mouth

2.  Viewing development, position, and eruption of primary teeth so we can see all your child’s baby teeth and permanent teeth  at one time

3.  For individuals who have difficulty holding x-ray films in their mouth

4.  Diagnosing Temporomandibular Joint (Jaw hinge) dysfunction

5.  Viewing impacted wisdom teeth

6.  Detecting presence of bone or gum diseases

7.  Diagnosing early signs of oral cancer

8.  Discovering nonmalignant tumors

9.  Surveying the sinus region

10. Discovering stones in the salivary glands

11. Examining trauma patients

12.Screening for stroke, osteitis deformans, hyperparathyroidism and other systemic diseases.

13.Obtaining baseline data for long term dental health

14. Diagnostic data for referring dentist to use

15. Critical for setting broken facial bones

16. Identification in case of an accident

17. Provide valuable information about signs of carotid calcification. Alveolar bone loss as assessed from PMXs is associated with cardiovascular diseases.**

18. Evaluation for full or partial removable dentures, dental implants, or braces.

19. Alternative for those who can  not tolerate other types of films, gaggers.

20.  New patients to help screen for diseases beyond just the teeth.

21. Screening for osteoporosis postmenopausal women may lose as much as 20% of their bone mass within

5-7 years postmenopause.  1 in 4 men have osteoporosis after the age of 50.  55% of people over 50 have osteoporosis.

22. Metastases to jaws.  Carcinomas of the brest, lung, prostate, thyroid glad, kidney, and colon may produce cyst-like growth.

23.  Genetic abnormalities.

24.  Developmental abnormalities-cleft palate.

25 Asymmetry of the Oral and Maxillofacial area which could be caused by swelling on one side of the face such as seen in eating disorders.

26. Altered nerve sensation-paresthesia in lip,  or hypersensitivity which could be caused by infectious osteomyelitis or  a malignancy compressing a nerve.

27.  Pain-find cause and location of pain.

28.  Ill fitting dentures- due to alveolar bone loss.

Updates

Radiographic Measures of Chronic Periodontitis and Carotid Artery Plaque

Chronic periodontitis (CP) is associated with stroke and subclinical atherosclerosis, but clinical measurement of CP can be time consuming and invasive. The purpose of this study wasto determine whether radiographically assessed CP is associated with nonstenotic carotid artery plaque as an ultrasound measure of subclinical atherosclerosis. Panoramic oral radiographs were obtained from 203 stroke-free subjects ages 54 to 94 during the baseline examination

Severe periodontal bone loss is associated independently with carotid atherosclerosis. Panoramic oral radiographs may thus provide an efficient means to assess CP in studies of atherosclerosis risk.

Steven P. Engebretson, et al.,Radiographic Measures of ChronicPeriodontitis and Carotid Artery Plaque Stroke. 2005;36:561.)

General Dentistry, July/August 2004, Volume 52, Number 4

Clinical Indications as a Basis for Ordering Extraoral Imaging Studies, Dr Carter Compendium Vol.25, No.5 pg 351-361 May 2004

**Journal Of Clinical Periodontology Volume 29 Issue 9 Page 803 – September 2002

2D x-ray and how images are created

The creation of x-ray images is based on the ability of xray

energy to pass through matter. This ability varies

with different substances; e.g., wood and flesh are easily

penetrated, but denser substances such as lead and bone

absorb more of the x-ray energy. The penetrating power

of x-rays also depends on their energy. The more

penetrating x-rays, known as hard x-rays, have a higher

frequency and are thus more energetic, while the less

penetrating x-rays, called soft x-rays, have lower

energies. X-rays that have passed through an object

provide a visual two dimensional image of its interior

structure when they strike a photographic plate or x-ray

detector; the darkness of the shadows produced on the

plate or screen depends on the relative absorption of

different parts of the object.

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