X-Mind Trium booths orthodontic practice

The decision to invest in state-of-the art digital panoramic and cephalometric imaging has paid dividends for a Newcastle orthodontist.

Dr Nerissa Green and her partner, Arty Olivares, together operate Charlestown Orthodontics in a stylishly renovated and modernised practice close to the Charlestown CBD.

Dr Green said she wanted her own X-ray equipment to provide convenience for patients and to ensure consistent imaging quality for diagnostic purposes.

Previously, patients would have had to make a separate imaging appointment in Charlestown or Newcastle and then come back for another orthodontic appointment. In contrast, having in-house imaging only adds a few minutes to a visit and the information is immediately available for diagnostics and patient education.

"We'd been doing our homework for a while and saw the X-Mind Trium at ADX16. We then had a chat with our equipment technician, Darren Welsh from Dental Installations and out of that chat, we arranged to see the unit demonstrated at A-dec's Sydney showroom.

Dr Green and her partner came away impressed with the design and technical aspects of the machine, especially the image quality - attributable to its benchmark-setting 75-100 micron resolution and four selectable fields of view. They now have an X-Mind Trium installed in a dedicated OPG room in their practice and are enjoying the benefits.

Dr Green normally takes a panoramic (260 mm x 148 mm) or a lateral cephalometric (240 mm x 180 mm) image to conduct a thorough lat ceph analysis on her orthodontic software.

"Some things can only be shown on an X-ray and are not known from just the clinical presentation - for example, missing or supernumerary teeth or other factors which may be contributing to the malocclusion," Dr Green said.

"With the X-ray machine I can view the image, then I use software to mark landmarks to measure the relationship between the maxilla and the mandible and the angulation of the teeth."

Dr Green said the images obtained on the X-Mind Trium have been very clear and she hasn't had to enhance or change them. She was also able to import images into third party software without problems, in this case Dolphin.

"The X-Mind Trium is very easy to use and we are extremely happy with it. I like the design and thought it was not too intimidating for young patients and would be a good match for our practice.

"Patients have to be in the OPG room by themselves. The machine looks nice and is quiet in operation. If they are in with something that looks nice and is not too obtrusive, I think it makes the whole experience easier," Dr Green said.

The X-Mind Trium has the smallest footprint with the ceph arm on the market. An added advantage is that it is easily upgradeable to 3D CBCT or full cephalometric imaging if required.

Dr Green has found the logical icon-based controls make the X-Mind Trium easy to use and has been impressed with the level of after sales support. "Support was important to us and we wanted Australian-based support, which we have received from both Dental Installations and Acteon.

"We're extremely happy with Dental Installation's service. The training we had from Acteon enabled us to hit the ground running and any questions we've had have been followed up quickly."