Case study
A patient has presented at your practice today for a consult regarding extensive dental work. This patient has several areas of missing teeth and has expressed an interest in dentures. The dentist has prescribed a full mouth series of radiographs, and you are preparing to take the exposures. After performing a cursory exam of the patient’s oral cavity, you note the following: Several missing and/or broken down teeth Malaligned and crowded teeth Partially erupted third molars Large torus palatinus and bilateral torus mandibularis A shallow palatal vault Consider the following and write out your answers:
1. Describe the alterations in technique you will apply to obtain radiographs in the edentulous areas.
2. Describe the alterations in technique you will apply to avoid overlap error in the areas of malaligned and crowded teeth.
3. Identify and describe the technique you will use to best image the partially erupted third molars.
4. Describe the problems you anticipate facing with the presence of large tori and a shallow palatal vault.
5. Identify alterations in techniques that will help you overcome these obstacles.
6. If broken root tips or other foreign objects are identified on the radiographs, describe how the interpretation of these can reveal whether or not the objects in question are located on the buccal or the lingual.
7. Describe other methods of localization that can aid in making this determination.
8. Identify reasons why this patient’s radiographs may need to be duplicated.