Dentistry installs first U.S. dentomaxillofacial dedicated Cone-Beam CT

Kandasamy Rengasamy, DDS, assistant professor, department of orthodontics, demonstrates how patients are positioned in the NewTom QR-DVT-9000.

  A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held May 10, 2001, for the NewTom QR-DVT-9000, the first dentomaxillofacial dedicated Cone-Beam CT in the United States. It was acquired for Loma Linda University through the department of orthodontics, School of Dentistry.

The digital radiograph machine, which is now in use in Italy and Japan, received approval for use in the United States from the FDA this year.

Manufactured by ZeroBase NIM, the digital radiograph machine produces remarkably detailed images of the bony tissue of the skull, jaw, and teeth.

During a 70-second scan time, 360 slides are produced and raw data is stored in a computer. Using three-dimensional mathematics, computer software can reproduce two-dimensional or three-dimensional images of the desired location, in any direction.

"A benefit of this new technology," informs Joseph Caruso, DDS, MS, chair, department of orthodontics, "is that the patient receives 80 percent less radiation than is delivered by a traditional test."

The equipment will be especially helpful for children 3 years old and younger; the nerves in their brains have not fully developed and radiation can delay or impair normal development. Use of radiation has also been associated with malignancy and soft-tissue sarcomas. Referring patients for a traditional CAT scan is more expensive--with much more information collected than may be required by the referring dentist. The NewTom is compact and has been optimized to record head and facial information.

As soon as the equipment is running, referrals for studies will come from dentists (including orthodontists, prosthodontists, oral & maxillofacial surgeons, and implant specialists), plastic surgeons, and ENT physicians, among others.