• Hero Banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Buying or Selling a Practice
Hospital Design
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Technology
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Live Conferences
Conference News
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Tips for mastering veterinary dental radiography

January 19, 2021
Benita Altier, LVT, VTS (dentistry)

To consistently obtain diagnostic intraoral radiographs, keep these important points in mind.

Obtaining a full-mouth series of dental radiographs can seem daunting for many veterinary technicians, especially in hospitals that do not incorporate the practice into daily routines. The easiest and fastest way to master the techniques required to produce diagnostic-quality radiographs is through in-person professional training. A veterinary technician with specialty certification in dentistry is a true expert with the education and experience to help your team succeed without the fear and frustration of practicing on anesthetized patients (Figure 1). In addition to helping your team learn the simplest positioning techniques, this person can help ensure that all team members are on the same page regarding client education, workflow during procedures, and interpretation of the images once obtained.

Training for dental radiography is best done on specimens or bone skulls to ensure a quality learning experience without the stress of caring for a live animal. We learn best from our mistakes; however, let’s not make them with a patient under anesthesia if at all possible.

Timing

Obtain the full-mouth series of radiographs early in the procedure, immediately after the patient is anesthetized and stabilized. Doing so helps get the diagnostic process started with some objective data.

Once you have the radiographs, you will likely find more pathology and need to call the client for treatment approval. If you wait to obtain radiographs until everything else is done with the patient’s mouth and the client doesn’t answer when you call for treatment authorization, the patient’s time under anesthesia may be extended unnecessarily.

Patient positioning

Patients should be positioned in the same way each time a radiograph is obtained. With sternal and dorsal head positioning, ensure that the patient’s hard palate is parallel to the tabletop (Figure 2). If you wish to obtain the radiographs with the patient in a lateral head position, make sure the hard palate is perpendicular to the table. I prefer to obtain full-mouth dental radiographs with the patient initially in sternal positioning for the maxillary views and then in dorsal recumbency for the mandibular views.

Achieving consistent results can be very challenging if you are not using these specific patient head positions. If the patient’s head is oblique (not straight), you must position the beam using bisecting angles, a method many find troublesome, time-consuming, and prone to error.

Advertisement

Don’t depend on any one view to determine the presence or absence of pathology if something seems questionable. When you are unsure about what you may be seeing, obtain a second or even third view from a different horizontal perspective than the original survey view of that tooth or area.

Anesthesia safety

Analgesia and anesthesia are critical when obtaining dental radiographs. Make sure the patient is adequately premedicated and then maintained under a surgical plane of general anesthesia (ie, unable to respond to stimuli) for the entire procedure.

Avoiding sensor damage involves having an exceptional understanding of analgesic principles and how to determine a patient’s depth of anesthesia properly, observing constantly and adjusting depth accordingly while preventing hypotension and other complications. Do not place the sensor in the mouth of a patient that is not fully anesthetized and intubated.

A patient’s jaw tone and reflexive mouth closure can cause significant destruction of the sensor. To avoid sensor damage, particularly by dogs, wedge a bite-block object—such as an old section of endotracheal tube (larger size for dogs) or a dental wedge—between the molars on at least 1 side of the mouth. This will prevent an unexpected bite down by the patient (Figure 3).

Figure 3A. Various types of “bite blocks,” including endotracheal tubing (A) and a dental wedge (Jor-Vet, B) can be placed between the molar teeth to prevent sensor damage during radiographic procedures.
Figure 3B. Various types of “bite blocks,” including endotracheal tubing (A) and a dental wedge (Jor-Vet, B) can be placed between the molar teeth to prevent sensor damage during radiographic procedures.

Efficiency

Once you have training and a repeatable technique, your speed will improve. But at first, prioritize technique over speed. Dental radiographs must contain the tooth or teeth and bone surrounding them as desired; there must not be elongation or foreshortening distorting bone or tooth. Some parts of mouth (eg, tooth root, alveolar bone) cannot be seen with the naked eye. These, in particular, are of the utmost importance. With practice, you will be able to expose about 1 image per minute and, with daily practice on every dental patient, every time, you will become even more efficient and consistent.

Troubleshooting

It’s important to have a thorough understanding of what can cause problems when obtaining dental radiographs. This comes down to 3 variables, which I call the ABCs: A—animal, B—beam, and C— sensor, phosphor plate, or film.

The operator must objectively measure each of the 3 ingredients in the formula to get consistently diagnostic radiographs. When you get an image that isn’t diagnostic, ask yourself what caused the error. Was it the animal’s head position (A), the beam’s angle or rotation (B), or the sensor’s location in the mouth (C)? When you determine what caused the issue, fix that and try again (Figure 4).

The bottom line Learning dental radiography is challenging, but don’t give up. Becoming proficient involves at least 1 serious learning opportunity, practice without added stress or pressure from your team, and ongoing evaluation of what is working well and what you still need to learn and practice more.

Benita Altier, LVT, VTS (dentistry), began her business, Pawsitive Dental Education, with the goal of bringing professional dental instruction to veterinary hospitals and conferences across the United States and Canada. She currently resides in Washington.

Related Content:

DentistryClinicalRolesTechniciansAssociates
Can our Pride panel answer these LGBTQ+ trivia questions?
Can our Pride panel answer these LGBTQ+ trivia questions?
Creating inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community in vet med
Creating inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community in vet med
Happy Pride Month, Hill's launches Prescription Diet ONC Care, and more
Happy Pride Month, Hill's launches Prescription Diet ONC Care, and more

Advertisement

Latest News

Humanimal Trust joins World Federation for Animals

News wrap-up: This week’s headlines, plus Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine presents Temple Grandin, PhD, MS, with an honorary degree

Can our Pride panel answer these LGBTQ+ trivia questions?

Creating inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community in vet med

View More Latest News
Advertisement