Cone Beam CT (CBCT) Scanning in Centennial, CO
Before Dr. Barney places a dental implant, he needs to see your anatomy in three dimensions — where the nerve runs, how much bone there is, where the sinus sits. The same is true for some wisdom teeth and some bone grafts: when roots or a graft site sit close to those structures, a flat X-ray is not enough to plan safely.
Our office has a Planmeca Viso G5 cone beam CT scanner, so that scan happens here, during your visit, and he reviews it with you before anything is scheduled.
What is a cone beam CT scan?
A cone beam CT is a three-dimensional X-ray. Instead of the flat, overlapping picture a standard dental X-ray gives, it captures a volume — so bone, tooth roots, nerve canals and sinuses can be viewed from any angle and measured accurately.
It is not the same machine as the CT scanner in a hospital. A cone beam unit is built for the head and jaws, uses a cone-shaped beam rather than a spiral path, and delivers substantially less exposure than conventional medical CT.
What happens during a cone beam CT scan?
You sit or stand still while the scanner rotates around your head. It takes less than 30 seconds, nothing enters your mouth, and there is no sensation at all. Most patients are surprised it is over so quickly.
How much exposure does a cone beam CT scan involve?
Less than a medical CT scan, and often comparable to a single standard dental Xray or panorex. The scanner offers Planmeca’s Ultra Low Dose protocol, which the manufacturer designed to capture a full 3D scan at a dose comparable to a standard 2D panoramic X-ray without a measurable loss of diagnostic quality.
Dental cone beam units are built for the head and jaws, so they expose far less tissue than a hospital CT scanner covering the same region. If you are weighing the scan
against the risk of operating without it, that is the comparison Dr. Barney will talk you through.
What does Dr. Barney do with your scan?
The scan loads into planning software where he can rotate your anatomy, take measurements, and plan implant positions against the bone that is actually there. He will turn the screen toward you and walk you through it — most patients find seeing their own anatomy far more useful than hearing it described.
For implant cases, the CBCT scan is also one half of what goes into a surgical guide. The other half is a digital scan of your teeth (IOS) — that is covered on our guided implant surgery page.