BETTER IMAGING SMARTSCAN IMPROVES ON DENTAL X-RAY.

Byline: Andrew Moyle Staff Writer

UPLAND - The X-ray machine, the mainstay of modern dental imaging, is based on a process that has been around for more than 100 years.

For Ron Beaman that's long enough.

Beaman, owner of Upland company SmartScan, is hoping a new generation of dental and maxillofacial imaging will put the dental X-ray machine where it belongs: in a medical museum.

``Now what (dentists) do is look at the 2-D scans and say, `I kind of get an idea of what I want to do,''' Beaman said. ``With this technology, they'll know exactly how they want to approach any kind of work.''

SmartScan, formerly Beaman's Radiographic Laboratories, has been using a Cone Beam Volumetric Tomography scanner, or NewTom, for almost two years and actively promoting the technology for six months.

Subjecting a patient to less than 9 percent of the radiation of a full set of X-rays, at one-third the cost of a CAT scan, the NewTom has the potential to take the dental and oral surgery world by storm in just a few years.

``That was so easy, let's do it again,'' said Stephen Tracey, an orthodontist who had a scan done Wednesday. ``It gives us an instrument that makes life easier for everyone. As an orthodontist, we're usually wanting to know more, and now we have a better way to do it.''

The machine, manufactured by Aperio, an Italian company, stands approximately 6 1/2 feet tall by 6 1/2 wide. The patient reclines on a bed with his or her head inside an opening 1 1/2 feet across.

The NewTom, which examines the area from the nose to the jaw, rotates 360 degrees around the patient's head in 60 seconds and automatically adjusts radiation levels to compensate for density changes in the skull.

A traditional CAT scan imaging machine costs $2.5 million and more than $250,000 a year to operate and maintain. The radiation is at safe levels compared to an X-ray machine, but, as anyone who has been through the CAT experience knows, it's a claustrophobic, time-consuming process and unsuitable for dental imaging.

The X-ray machine in a local dentist's office costs roughly $80,000, and maintenance costs are considerably less than that of the CAT scanner. Lining with lead the walls, ceiling and floor of an X-ray room in a multistory building walls could push the cost to $500,000.

Radiation is the largest problem with X-rays - a full series of films of the mouth and maxillofacial structure subjects the patient to almost 250 microsieverts of radiation.

``With (the new technology), there's so much less radiation than either the 2-D or the CAT scan,'' Beaman said. ``It just makes sense to do it this way.''

Safety concerns are the least of the NewTom's advantages. After the one-minute scan, the tomography is transferred to a personal computer where it is reconstructed into a three-dimensional image that can be examined at any angle.

The easily accessible image can reveal problems beyond those merely in the teeth. At least 50 times, Beaman said, the SmartScan has detected hidden conditions in patients, including cancer of the jaw and lymph nodes of the neck.

``It brings up a whole new series of responsibilities for us,'' Beaman said.

There are other advantages as well. Beaman related a story in which a 9-year-old boy with multiple sclerosis had to be restrained by his mother while the SmartScan did its work. With traditional X-rays, she risked exposure to unnecessary radiation.

Andrew Moyle, [phone]

andrew.moyle(at)dailybulletin.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Rob Beaman's SmartScan technology can create detailed three-dimensional images of a patient's skull that are useful to orthodontists and oral surgeons. The NewTom takes 360 pictures in one minute, adjusting radiation required for the density of the scanned area.

(2) SmartScan imaging provides detailed 3-D images of the jaw while exposing patients to less radiation than traditional X-rays. SmartScan has even detected patients' hidden conditions such as cancer of the jaw and lymph nodes of the neck.

Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino/Staff Photographer