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Imaging
Imaging is a general term used to describe a wide variety of activities involving the capture, storage, and manipulation of images. This would include capturing and storing digital x-rays, scanning documents, taking patient photos with a digital camera, scanning film x-rays, enhancing photos, using an intraoral camera, etc. The Open Dental Images module has some basic imaging capabilities which can handle scanning, importing, cropping, and storing images. This is mostly targeted for documents, but can also easily be used with digital photos which you can import from your camera. See the Image Enhancing page as well.
Scanners
The following scanners are the only ones we are aware of that have a large enough transparency adapter to be used with panos. But be aware that we do not currently directly support transparency scanning, so you will have to use the software that comes with the scanner and save the image into the patient's Open Dental folder.
Epson V750M $600, 8.5 x 11.7 transparency and very dependable. Highly
recommended.
Epson Perfection 4990 $600,
8 x 10 transparency area.
Microtek Scanmaker 8700 $500, firewire/USB2(fast), 8 x 10 transparency tray.Their software is very hard to use and full of bugs. You can't save to a network folder, you can't change the contrast, the settings are touchy, etc. You also have to cut the ends of your panos. We do not recommend this scanner.
Microtek 9800XL with TMA ($1400, firewire, 12 x 16 transparency area)
UMax 2100XL ($1300, SCSI-II, 12 x 17 transparency area)
Epson 1680 ($1200, 8.5 x 11.7 transparency area, but discontinued)
For ordinary scanning that does not require transparencies, any scanner will work.
The following scanner is for power users only. It DOES NOT directly scan into Open Dental.
A very interesting new scanner is the Fujitsu
ScanSnap. It does very fast scanning of documents using a document
feeder. It costs about $500, which is a very reasonable price for
what it does. Please note that it is a very specialized scanner.
It does not have a flatbed for radiographs. It also cannot be used
directly with Open Dental because it does not have a TWAIN driver.
It uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and advanced software
to scan directly to PDF (use Adobe Acrobat to view a PDF file) instead
of JPG (an ordinary image). So you would put maybe 10 documents for
one patient into the feeder and push the start button. All 10 documents
would quickly be converted to PDF and placed in a temporary folder.
Then, you would go to the OD Images module for the patient, and import
the document. You would be able to see the PDF in the Images module. Users have given positive feedback on this scanner.
Imaging Software
For more complex imaging requirements, you will need imaging software.
It is very common to use one program for dental practice management
and a different program for image management. If you are using digital
radiography, then your hardware vendor will have an imaging program you
can purchase. Examples include Dexis, Schick, and Gendex VixWin. There
are also independent software products such as XDR, TigerView, and Apteryx which
work very well.
See Program Links for information on using the various bridges that we support.
We do not have bridges for the following programs because there has been no demand for them.
Adstra
Progeny
ZoomImage from Discus (no longer sold)
Patterson Imaging (they do not offer a bridge, although the Apteryx Name Grabber may be used with limited success)
Sensors
We currently integrate directly with the Suni sensor. We hope to eventually provide direct support for many sensors. Here is a prioritized list of the order in which we might add support for sensors:
RSV
Owandy
DentX Eva
e2v
Schick
DenOptix
Progeny
Gendex
Sirona
QuickRay
ScanX
--
Trophy
Dexis
Intraoral Cameras
We do not directly support any intraoral cameras. We would have to support live video. So if you have software that came with your intraoral camera, you should use that. You could also purchase a third party imaging software such as one of those listed above that we have a bridge to.
Imaging hardware and software vendors alphabetically
Air Techniques www.airtechniques.com
They make the ScanX, shown above, which is a popular phosphor plate system. They include imaging software called Visix, which is a rebranded version of Tigerview. As with the other phosphor plate systems, Gendex Denoptix, Soredex Digora, and Orex, the advantages are the price and sensor comfort. The price is especially appealing if you need panos. The disadvantages are the time involved and the fact that the phosphor plates can become scratched.
Apteryx www.apteryxware.com/dental
Their XVA3 software can support almost all sensors on the market. The hardware support is just outstanding, and the software is powerful. Apteryx is frequently rebranded under different names, including Lightyear, Cliniview, and Prof Suni. Apteryx does not manufacture hardware, and Suni sensors are frequently used with it.
Camsight www.camsight.com
Known for their digital surgical scope. Manufacture a variety of dental equipment. CDMi and CDMx software.
DentalEye www.dentaleye.com
Imaging software from Sweden.
Dentrix Image
Purchased Vipersoft and renamed it Dentrix Image. It has become a closed and proprietary solution available only to Dentrix users. They used to use Suni sensors, but now use e2v sensors which they refer to as ImageRay sensors. ImageRay sensors do not work outside of Dentrix Image. Recently purchased by Dexis. Parent company of Dentrix is Sullivan-Schein.
Dent-X www.dent-x.com
Previously known for their line of chemical x-ray developers. Manufactures Eva sensors and ProImage image management
Dexis www.dexray.com
They manufacture sensors and an imaging program to go along with them, but their sensors only work with their proprietary program. They sell one sensor size which is between a #1 and a #2 in size. They recently purchased Dentrix Image. Parent company of Dexis is Danaher, which also owns Gendex.
DXIS www.dxis.com
Hardware retrofits existing pano machines to be fully digital without phosphor plates. We bridge to their standalone imaging software.
A sensor manufacturer that only sells sensors wholesale. They have 3 sensor sizes which will work on Windows, Mac, or Linux !! The e2v sensor is used in Gendex,XDR, Progeny, Imagin, Mediadent, and Dentrix ImageRay products among others. Frequently, rebranded sensors are modified to be proprietary, so they are not interchangeable.
Florida Probe www.floridaprobe.com
Automated perio probing hardware. They have also recently added a full-featured perio software. We have a bridge that works well.
Sigma sensors with Cliniview software. Cliniview is a rebranded version of Apteryx.
Gendex www.gendexxray.com
Manufacturer of DenOptix, shown above, which is the original phosphor plate system. They have been making constant improvements to the technology since it was first released. The disadvantage with phosphor plate systems are the time involved and the fact that the phosphor plates can become scratched. On the other hand, a phosphor plate system is by far the most affordable way to go completely digital, especially if you are using panos. They also manufacture intraoral cameras, x-ray systems, sensors, digital panos, and a wide variety of other instruments. Parent company of Gendex is Danaher, which also owns Dexis/Dentrix Image.
Hamamatsu www.hamamatsu.com
An OEM manufacturer of sensors. No direct sales. Used by Sigma Biomedics and Camsight.
Kodak www.kodak.com
Their Health Imaging division was recently purchased by Onex. Also owns SoftDent and Practice Works practice management programs which have changed ownership repeatedly over the last decade. The bridge from Open Dental to Trophy (Kodak) is the simplest of all the bridges. All it does is specify to Trophy the name of the folder containing the images of the current patient. The Trophy sensors require the proprietary Trophy imaging program to work.
Lightyear www.lightyeartechnology.com
Went out of business. They had heavily marketed a version of Apteryx software matched with Suni sensors for use on a Tablet PC.
MediaDent www.multimediadental.org
They started out in medical imaging, and then moved into dental imaging using the e2v sensor. They also released a practice management software to complement their imaging software. They use an open SQL database.
Onex
A Canadian company that recently bought out Kodak medical division, including Softdent and PracticeWorks.
Orex www.orex.com
A Kodak subsidiary that makes a phosphor plate system.
Owandy www.owandy.com
A French company that makes a sensor between a #1 and #2 in size called a Upix. It has a very short cord (about 4") with a memory chip on the end so that you can take one "wireless" radiograph without hooking up the extension cord. It comes with Upix QuickVision imaging software. Highest resolution of any sensor made. More comfortable than most.
PatientGallery www.patientgallery.com
Imaging software. Very little information available on their website. Was formerly known as ImageFx.
Planmeca www.planmeca.com
Based in Helsinki. Software is Dimaxis. They manufacture hardware for both panoramic and intraoral radiography.
Progeny www.progenydental.com
A fairly new company founded by the original owner of Gendex. They manufacture an x-ray head, camera, and software. They use the e2v sensor.
Schick www.schicktech.com
Owned by Patterson, the same company that owns Eaglesoft. We can no longer recommend Schick as an acceptable software solution. Their choice of bridging technology is unnecessarily complex and has resulted in a poor user experience. If you have Schick sensors, they can be used with other imaging software choices that will bridge better.
SciCan www.scican.com
SciCan is better known for autoclaves such as the Statim. They also make intraoral cameras and ImageFX software (now PatientGallery?), but no x-ray equipment.
Sigma www.sigmadigitalxray.com
Rebrands Suni sensors as Bio-Ray, and uses Apteryx for imaging.
Sirona www.sirona.com
A German company that develops software and equipment. Especially well known for their Cerec CAD-CAM equipment. Their imaging software and sensors are called SIDEXIS. Their software does not directly support other sensors.
Soredex www.soredex.com
Their phosphor plate system is called Digora Optime, and in the United States, it's only used for intraoral films, not panos. To store the images, they frequently use Cliniview, which is a rebranded version of Apteryx. They also have Digora software that we bridge to.
Suni www.suni.com
Used to sell sensors wholesale, but now sell retail. Their imaging software, Professor Suni, is Apteryx software with a different name. The Suni sensors are also currently being sold as Sigma BioRay brand. They were also used in the older version of Dentrix ImageRay and Lightyear.
TigerView www.televere.com
They have extra features that you wouldn't normally find in imaging software. For instance, e-mail, letters, insurance submissions, etc. Open Dental passes more information through TigerView's bridge than through any other imaging bridge. They do not manufacture hardware. Their support is good.
VideoDental www.videodental.com
RSV sensors are imported and distributed exclusively by VideoDental, who also distribute hardware and software from a variety of other manufacturers.
This software was written by Dr. Douglas Yoon, an expert in dental radiography. Dr. Yoon was the programmer who created the now famous automatic caries detection algorithm. XDR tends to use single-click enhancements and does not include features like colorization which are clinically useless. XDR uses the e2v sensor. Their support is better than any other imaging software.