How to prepare for an oral X-ray: Remove metal accessories

Author: Not specified Reviewer: Not specified Curator: Not specified Production/Organizational Information: Not specified

Title: How to prepare for an oral X-ray: Remove metal accessories

Introduction: Remove metallic accessories from head and neck before oral imaging to avoid interference and ensure accurate results.

Keywords: ['Oral health', 'Common Knowledge Popularization']

Today, a 21-year-old girl came to the clinic needing a panoramic X-ray of her mouth. She had nine piercings on her face, and we advised her to remove them before taking the X-ray: one tongue stud, one left ear stud, and seven right ear studs.

"Isn't it too much trouble? Can't we just take the picture without unpacking?" she asked.

The answer is: No.

Why do we need to dismantle it?

A panoramic dental X-ray is taken by rotating an X-ray around the head to produce a two-dimensional image of structures such as the jawbone, teeth, tooth roots, and the mandibular canal. Metallic accessories (such as earrings, tongue piercings, lip piercings, necklaces, metal hairpins, etc.) can severely interfere with imaging, resulting in metal artifacts.

Figure 2: What does the artifact look like? Radial bright patterns, dark areas, or large areas of obstruction appear around the metal. Tongue piercing artifact.

Consequences of artifacts: 1. Obstruction of key areas. 2. Impact on accurate diagnosis. 3. Waste of time and radiation: If the resulting images are unusable, they must be redone, leading to unnecessary radiation exposure.

Simply put: what the accessories hide is often precisely the place that needs to be seen clearly.

Considerations Before Filming

1. Metal accessories on the head and neck must be removed: this includes earrings, tongue piercings, lip piercings, nose piercings, eyebrow piercings, hair clips, glasses, necklaces, and removable dentures (with metal clasps), among others.

The area below the head and neck is usually not affected: jewelry such as belly button rings and ankle chains, which are far from the head and neck, generally do not interfere with oral radiography and do not need to be removed.

3. Implants in the body must be actively disclosed: such as pacemakers, intracranial metal clips, cochlear implants, and titanium plates used for fracture fixation. It is essential to inform the staff before taking X-rays.

It takes just a few minutes to remove the accessories, ensuring a clear and effective imaging result that guarantees accurate diagnosis and safe treatment.