I am so thankful for the CT scan
I was recently heard saying this as I walked down the hall in my office. I had just reviewed a Cone Beam CT scan of a new patient who simply wanted to be established as a patient at Origin Dental Wellness.
She had very little dentistry (only two fillings in 36 years), no complaints, no pain, and a beautiful smile.
Not expecting to see anything of concern on her CT scan, I reviewed it before entering the treatment room to perform her exam.
What I found was just as much a surprise to me as it was to her. She had a very large cyst present in her lower jaw bone.
I reviewed her traditional dental radiographs and the cyst was not obvious at all. I would have completely missed it if it hadn’t been for the fact that we took a CBCT on her.
Patients will often ask why we take a CBCT on them if they have no concerns or pain. This patient is exactly why. Many tumors in the jaw bones cause no symptoms. A tumor can be present for years, and therefore cause years of damage, before a person can become aware that it exists.
The CBCT is able to not only detect tumors but also detect minute infections at their earliest inception so that the infection can be treated appropriately before it has had an opportunity to cause detrimental effects to the surrounding bone, and consequential overall negative health effects.
These health effects can range anywhere from sinus infections to heart attacks, so we take these infections very seriously.
If we waited until one of these infections appeared on a traditional dental radiograph, we would most often be waiting years before the infection had literally dissolved through enough of the bone to be visible.
The Cone Beam CT scan is an invaluable tool at Origin Dental Wellness. I simply wouldn’t be able to provide the quality of care that we provide without it. I am so thankful for the CT scan. And I believe our patients are too!