04/24/2007
( HARTFORD, Conn.) -- The Department of Dentistry has gone digital at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. As a result, film X-rays are becoming a thing of the past at Saint Francis and the Burgdorf/Bank of America Health Center, according to Paul Mitchell, D.M.D., Chairman/Director.
Instead of placing a film in a patients mouth, an electronic sensor, covered by a sanitary plastic sheath, is inserted and connected to the system by wires and then exposed to X-rays.
Instantaneously, the image appears on the computer,� explains Dr. Mitchell. One of the useful byproducts of this system is that it uses less radiation than conventional films.�
In addition to digital X-rays, the new system includes a photographic camera used to document pathology.
In the past, it took 10 to 15 minutes to develop dental X-rays using the old wet� process. Besides being faster, David Spinelli, D.M.D., Director of Clinics in the Hospitals Department of Dentistry, says there are environmental advantages to digital imaging.
We dont have to buy developers, fixers and chemicals. We dont have to worry about toxic wastes because we dont have to worry about disposing of those chemicals.�
In addition to digitizing the departments X-rays, patient records are being converted as well. It will be paperless. Everything is electronic,� explains Glenda Rosario, Office Manager.
Images will be stored digitally rather than on film, thereby reducing the need for storage space, and will be available for instantaneous transfer to other offices or off-site locations via the Internet.
If you need to transfer the images to an oral pathologist for consultation, anywhere in the world, you just send it as an attachment to a file,� says Dr. Mitchell. Theres no snail mail, no courier deliveries, and images are of superior quality.�
Founded in 1897, Saint Francis is a major teaching hospital licensed for 617 acute inpatient beds and 65 bassinets and is the largest Catholic hospital in New England.
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