What Are Dental X-rays?
Dental x-rays are small films placed in your pet’s mouth to take radiographs of the tooth roots and surrounding bone.
Why Take Dental X-rays?
Only an x-ray can reveal problems underneath the gumline and guide the doctor for the best treatment plan:
- periodontal surgery or
- endodontic treatment
You save the tooth, or extraction if too much surrounding bone has been lost.
A dental x-ray helps to determine if it will be more difficult to extract this tooth, or if roots are missing (i.e., cat with resorptive lesion) and only the crown needs to be removed.
Dental x-rays taken after an extraction show that no tooth root pieces are left behind, which can cause severe pain and infections.
-
- The pet is under anesthesia with the x-ray film placed between tongue and teeth. The tubehead positioned as close as possible.
-
- Dental surgery setup
-
- Ready to take a dental x-ray
