Capturing The Targeted Anatomy

Published October 5, 2016

Objective

The quality of a radiographic system is only as good as its ability to capture the desired anatomy. For instance, if the clinician has cannot capture the canine/premolar contact because of poor sensor design, then even excellent resolution is pointless.

So:

Is it easy to see if the sensor is placed properly?
When optimally placed, does the active image area cover the targeted anatomy?

Design

Intraoral Visibility. Careful placement and orientation of the sensor are important, whether pursuing interproximal contacts or third-molar apices. XDR found that making the active surface white – without patterns or logos – made the sensor easier to see in the darkness of a mouth.

Canine/Premolar Contact. Even when optimally placed, excessive dead space along the mesial edge of the sensor makes it difficult to capture certain anatomy, such as the canine-premolar contact. In XDR’s patented design (US #9357972B2), XDR has decreased this dead space, maximizing the imaging area along the mesial edge.

Figure 1 - Smaller dead space yields better mesial imaging area — Figure 1 – Smaller dead space yields better mesial imaging area

Figure 1 - Better mesial imaging area captures canine/premolar contact — Figure 2 – Better mesial imaging area captures canine/premolar contact

Figure 3 - XDR patent US #9357972B2 — Figure 3 – XDR patent US #9357972B2

Results

Ergonomic Features

Objective	Feature
Canine-Premolar Contact	Maximal Mesial Imaging Area
Intraoral Visibility	White Face
Comfort	Rounded Corners
Comfort	Beveled Corners
Ease of Placement	Thin
Ease of Placement	Small Button
Ease of Cleaning	No Creases or Crevices
Sterilizability	Immersible (Waterproof)
Strong Cord	Kevlar Cable
Shock Resistance	Protection Plate
Handling Ease	Two-Meter Cord

Conclusion

Many sensors provide some of these features. Only the XDR Anatomic Sensor provides all of them.