Video: What Are Periapical X-Rays?

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Periapical x-rays are used by dentists to show the full root of the tooth, the apex of the tooth and the end of the root of the tooth, which is useful for examining patients with toothaches. Learn how periapical x-rays are used to locate infection and treat toothaches with help from a licensed dental assistant in this free video series on the dental profession.

Video Transcript

So, have you recently gone to your dentist and he told you that you need to have a periapical x-ray in order to determine if you have an infected tooth? Well, my name is Michelle, and I'm a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I'm here to explain to you on exactly, and show you what a periapical x-ray is. If you take a look over here this is a great picture of a periapical x-ray. It's actual what the, the purpose of the x-ray is to show the the full root of your tooth, and the apex of your tooth, which is meaning the end of your tooth, the the end of the root of your tooth, so hence, therefore that's where it gets its name periapical, because it's showing the apex of your tooth. So, this is a great x-ray to take, especially if you're having a toothache, or you're having an abscessed tooth. This type of x-ray will show the infection that you have down at the end of the root, and cause' usually what happens with the abscess tooth is you'll start to create an infection at the end, and you actually will can start to see a dark area forming, which that means where the infection has eaten away at the bone and there's no more bone there. So, you can kind of slightly see it here in this x-ray. This tooth has had an infection even though it's had a root canal done, but periapical x-rays are great x-rays to take in order to determine if you have an infected tooth. But once again, my name is Michelle, and I'm a dental assistant with Solutionz, and I just explained to you and showed you on what a perioapical x-ray is.

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What Are Periapical X-Rays?

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