Extra-Oral views

Question 1

Extra oral films

Answer 1

are used to produce much larger images showing many structures + are supplied in cassettes that are used outside the oral cavity

Question 2

Dental panoramic tomography (DPT)

Answer 2

shows both jaws in full + their surrounding bone anatomy, + is taken for orthodontic + wisdom tooth assessments. as well as to help diagnose pathology + jaw fractures

Question 3

Lateral oblique

Answer 3

shows the posterior portion of one side of the mandible, including ramus + angle + lower molar teeth. It is an alternative to DPT to view position of unerupted third molar teeth (these are used infrequently now as image produced on a well aligned DPT is far superior)

Question 4

Lateral skull radiograph

Answer 4

a view of the side of the head, taken in a specialist machine called a cephalostat (which may be present as an attachment to a DPT machine, or as a ‘stand alone’ device) + is used to monitor jaw growth + determine orthognathic surgery techniques in complicated cases of malocclusion

Question 5

When DPTs initially became widely available to dental profession

Answer 5

they were called ‘orthopantomographs’ + referred to as OPGs or OPTs - these abbreviations are still in current use in some areas