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Some tips on image quality from Dale Miles. Look for more information here Dale Miles at Dales web site.

When the sales person shows you a new sensor system, the images look great! They used a good x-ray generator, displayed on a high-quality monitor and the images looked as good or better than most of your film images, right? You get your system installed, take your first image and it too looks great (or maybe not). However, once the salesperson leaves, image quality starts to vary and periodically you get images that look awful. Logically, the first thing you blame is your new sensor. In a perfect world it would be that simple. Your old x-ray generator could be the prime “culprit” in the production of an non-diagnostic x-ray image.

Consequently, the first thing to look at in our “imaging chain” is your x-ray. Is it old? Have you had it since you opened your office? When was it last inspected?

Very few of the x-ray generators currently used in dental offices have characteristics that are ideally suited for a solid-state detector device.

Ideally, an x-ray generator to be used with a solid-state detector should have the following characteristics:

o low kV (70 kV or less)
o low mA (5 mA or even less may be ideal)
o an extremely accurate timer
o a timer capable of producing very short exposure times accurately
o the smallest focal spot feasible
o a DC (direct current) circuit
o rectangular collimation