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Digital radiography: Contrast resolution

This weeks topic on digital radiography is contrast resolution.  Contrast resolution is the ability to distinguish gray levels on an image.  The term used to identify how many gray levels that can be identified is bits.  When any number is in front of bits, such as 8 bits or 14…
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Case of the Week: Sialolith

This week I have a neat example of a sialolith on a pantomograph.  This was an incidental finding at a new patient exam.  Sialoliths tend to be single, but this case has multiple calcifications within the duct of the submandibular salivary gland.  On the pantomograph there are multiple, irregular shaped…
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Digital radiography: Basics

This will be the first of a new series on digital radiography. I won’t be going into deep detail about the mechanisms of how the different digital radiography systems work but more covering things that a salesperson may tell you or that you’ll see in ads and how to discern…
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Case of the Week: Enamel pearl

This week I am showing a case of an enamel pearl along with the clinical photo of the tooth after it was extracted.  Enamel pearls are an extra ‘blob’ of enamel near the furcation area on molars.   They will present as circular radiopaque areas near the furcation.   They…
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x ray unit settings: putting it all together

Now that we’ve gone over how changing the different settings affect your final image, we will go over how to adjust the settings and produce an image of similar density.  First we’ll discuss kilovoltage peak (kVp) and then onto milliampere (mA). Kilovoltage peak (kVp) A few weeks ago we went…