Traditional vs Digital Radiography: Which is the Best Technology for Dental Imaging?
Digital Dental radiography is one of the latest additions in the oral healthcare sector that is proving to be a significantly helpful tool for dentists who are preferring it over traditional radiography techniques for treating and diagnosing patients.
Radiography works on the principle of the electromagnetic radiation power that allows the dentist and other healthcare experts to see through human tissues. Currently radiography is being used by different healthcare departments including dental experts and getting advanced day by day
This article intends to list down some of the main differences between traditional and digital radiography, and finally conclude which technology is the better one for dental imaging processing.
Dental Radiography Technology: Traditional Radiography and Digital Radiography
Earlier, the traditional dental radiography technique was the only available method for oral diagnosis of a patient. But today, digital radiography is much more preferred and popular than the traditional approach.
Let’s look at both radiography technologies and understand why going digital is better.
Traditional Radiography Technology
After getting discovered in 1895, several practitioners began using the traditional radiography techniques. Doctors and dentists used this technique for better diagnosis of diseases with the help of x-ray images of a human body.
Traditional radiography techniques used high level of radiation power for providing the dentist with detailed pictures on the sheets. It helped dental experts in diagnosing and choosing better treatment options for the problems inside the mouth.
Traditional Dental Radiography Types
There are mainly two kinds of traditional radiography: Extraoral and Intraoral radiography.
Intraoral radiography is mostly used to get a detailed inside picture of the patient’s mouth. Extraoral radiography technique, on the other hand, is used when the dentist wants to diagnose the jaws instead of gum or teeth.
There are several other types of traditional radiographies whose uses completely depend on the part of the mouth dentist want to diagnose.
The use of the traditional method is getting lesser these days. Dentists no more prefer using this technique as it uses high radiation levels which can be dangerous for patients’ health.
Digital Dental Radiography (Digital Radiography) Technology
Digital radiography technology was introduced in 1987, almost 90 years after traditional radiography discovery.
Digital radiography uses the capabilities of computer technology and electronic sensors with a low level of radiation power.
Digital radiography doesn’t print the images on the sheet as traditional radiography technology does. Instead, when the sensors are placed inside the patient’s mouth, the detailed view is directly displayed on a computer screen attached to the sensing device.
Due to such an easy procedure, healthcare sectors have started preferring advanced dental radiography techniques over traditional techniques.
As per the healthcare experts of BIS Research, the global dental radiography market is projected to touch the market value of $3.91 billion by 2031, with a CAGR of 5.17% during 2022–2031.
Get your FREE sample report on the global dental radiography market
While it required an additional set of training for a dentist to perform digital radiography successfully, most healthcare experts believe that the benefits of digital radiography are much more than its drawbacks.
Why is Digital Dental Radiography Better?
Most dental experts today are only offering digital radiography for patients. It not only helps in reducing the burdens for the dental experts but also helps in improving the patient’s experience.
Following are a few reasons why digital dental radiography is better compared to traditional radiography:
It is cheaper
Since the cost of traditional radiography techniques is high due to the requirement of developing images, digital dental radiography becomes a comparatively cheaper method.
It provides faster results
In the traditional dental radiography, the images are printed on the sheets which makes it a highly time-consuming activity. It takes a lot of time in getting the final images ready which makes dentists wait for a longer time to diagnose the issue.
With digital radiography, there is no need for waiting. As soon as the sensors are placed by the dentist inside the patient’s mouth, the inside view can be seen directly on the computer screen.
Lesser exposure to radiation
The most significant advantage of digital radiography over traditional radiographs is safety. Digital radiography can help in reducing the radiation exposure for, both, the dental experts and patients by up to 90%.
It can also help in reducing health issues caused due to high levels of radiation such as:
· Radiation sickness
· Skin burns
· An increased risk of cancer
Market Overview of The Global Dental Radiography
The global dental radiography market is supposed to witness a high growth between 2022–2031. Major reasons driving the growth of the global dental radiography market include:
· Growing incidence of oral cancers
· An increasing number of patients with oral disorders
· Technical advancements in radiography systems of the dental sector
Oral disorders such as oral cancers are emerging as serious health concerns and constant awareness for oral care is pushing the market of the global dental radiography forward.
Different branches of the dental sector such as endodontics, maxillofacial, implantology, orthodontics, and endodontics need radiography techniques as a primary diagnostic device. This, too, has resulted in rising the demand for dental radiography devices.
As per the BIS Research market reports, North America is anticipated to dominate the global dental radiography market throughout the forecasted period 2022–2031. It is due to the presence of advanced healthcare infrastructure and more focus on the development and research activities.
Conclusion
The adoption rate of digital dental radiography is getting higher day by day. In the coming years, this technology can play a vital role in making the jobs of dentists much simpler and less time-consuming with getting the output in seconds.
Also, it can help in saving patients from a high level of radiation powers, which can cause several dangerous diseases.
