6847 W Happy Valley Rd Suite #2, Peoria, AZ 85383
A Clearer View of Your Oral Health
A thorough dental exam covers a lot of ground, but there is a limit to what even the most experienced clinician can see with the naked eye. What is happening between teeth, beneath the gumline, inside the bone, and within the root structure of a tooth requires imaging to evaluate accurately. That is where digital X-rays come in.
At Stetson Village Family Dentistry in Peoria, we use digital radiography as a standard part of comprehensive care. Compared to traditional film X-rays, digital imaging delivers sharper, more detailed images in a fraction of the time, at a significantly reduced radiation dose, and with the ability to enhance, enlarge, and share images instantly. It is a meaningful upgrade in both the quality of information we have and the experience for you as a patient.
The result is a more complete picture of your oral health at every visit, which means fewer surprises and better decisions about your care.
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What Digital X-Rays Help Us Find
Some of the most clinically important information about your oral health exists in areas a visual exam simply cannot access. Digital X-rays allow us to identify:
- Cavities forming between teeth before they are visible or symptomatic
- Bone loss associated with gum disease or infection
- Abscesses and infections developing at the root level
- Impacted teeth, including wisdom teeth that have not yet erupted
- Developmental issues in children as permanent teeth form and emerge
- Changes to existing restorations such as failing margins around crowns or fillings
- Cysts, tumors, or other abnormalities within the jaw structure
- Root fractures not visible during a clinical exam
Catching these issues early, often before a patient has any awareness that something is wrong, is one of the most important things we do for long-term oral health outcomes.
How Digital X-Rays Work
Digital X-rays replace traditional film with an electronic sensor that captures images and transfers them directly to a chairside monitor within seconds. Here is what the process looks like from start to finish:
01
Sensor Placement
A small electronic sensor is positioned inside your mouth to target a specific area of your dentition. We work through a series of positions to capture a complete set of images covering all areas we need to evaluate.
02
Image Capture
Each image is taken in seconds and appears on the chairside monitor almost immediately. There is no film to develop and no waiting involved.
03
Review and Enhancement
We review each image directly on screen, where we can zoom in, adjust contrast, and highlight specific areas to get the clearest possible view of what we are evaluating.
04
Discussion with Your Dentist
Your dentist walks you through the images chairside so you can see exactly what we are looking at and ask questions in real time. Nothing gets lost in translation between the imaging and the conversation about your care.
Radiation Exposure and Patient Safety
One of the most common questions we receive about X-rays is whether they are safe. The answer is yes, and the reasoning is straightforward. Digital X-rays emit up to 80 percent less radiation than traditional film X-rays. The exposure involved in a standard set of dental images is a fraction of what you encounter in everyday life through natural background radiation. To put it in perspective, a full set of dental X-rays delivers less radiation than a short airplane flight.
For patients who are pregnant, we defer non-urgent X-rays and discuss imaging decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Advanced Imaging Is Part of Every Comprehensive Visit
Digital X-rays are not a separate service you have to request. They are built into the way we approach comprehensive dental care at our Peoria office because we believe you deserve complete information about your oral health, not just the portion of it that is visible to the eye.
If you are due for a checkup or have not had X-rays taken in a while, now is a good time to schedule.
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