An hour spent in the chair at the endodontist this morning, retreating a tooth that was root-canaled 4 years ago and was never right (including, lately, increasing bouts of significant pain). I was actually leaning toward just having the damn thing yanked - but 3 out of 4 professionals suggested at least trying to hang onto it ( and the 4th had a vested interest in it failing, as he’s the oral surgeon who’d do the implant to replace it).
Anyway - they did some work, but they want me to go to another office for, I think, a “comb X-ray” to get a 3D version of the root that seems to have gone bad. Then they can decide whether they can treat it from the side, by making an incision in the gum (OUCH!!).
Now, as I was stoned out of my gourd at the time (Halcion I Do Love Thee) - as it is the only way I’d be able to stay in the chair for such a procedure - my memory is of course a bit spotty, and I know “Comb X-ray” is not quite the right term. Certainly googling that didn’t yield anything relevant.
Huh - answering my own question when I googled “3-d ray tooth root”, I came up with the term “cone beam”.
Having had regular X-rays (today and a few weeks ago), and a panoramic X-ray (a few weeks ago)… I’ll be glowing in the dark before much longer (sigh…).
Slightly off topic, but since you did mention panoramic X-ray :D, am I the only person that thinks a Panarex X-ray (I assume that’s the same thing) produces results that look like something out of the Alien movies? Maybe it’s all my fillings and crowns (I’ve never been a good boy about looking after my teeth), but the first thing I thought when I saw one for the first time was Alien. :eek:
My google-fu on the initial post was bad - I went by the term I remembered. When I tried different terms, I got it on the first hit.
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Canadjun** - I’d never looked at it that way before you darned if you’re not right! It definitely looks non-human. I swear my jaw isn’t 14 inches wide and all teeth :D.