Portable Hand Held X-Rays for Dentists

Portable Dental X-Rays are the future for dentists

Working here in Romania and working on small margins can make it difficult some times when you want to acquire cutting edge technology.

This is a problem that is faced by dentists here in Romania and I would say in most developing nations. So how do we fix this?

My example for you is the Hand Held Portable Dental X-Ray unit that is slowly coming on to the markets here in Europe and other parts of the world.

Currently, like a lot of dentist in Romania I do not have an X-Ray service in my dental practice.

Reason #1 Expensive Investment in excess of $20,000.00

Reason #2 My location is in a building that is residential as well

Reason #3 The cost of preparing a space to accommodate the X-Ray Unit

So I refer my patients, like other dentists in my position, to a Radiology Centre which is located near to us. So the patient has to go and get an x-ray and come back and see us at another time. Not good and I feel very unprofessional when we have this situation.

How to fix it?

By using the internet and keeping myself abreast of what is happening in the world. Attending events and listening to what other people are saying. Using this method I discovered some dentists in Bulgaria had what was described to me as military portable x-ray unit they were using for their patients.

This got me interested in hand held x-rays, I spoke to colleagues about this and asked what they knew, none of them had heard of anything like this type of product.

I then started doing research and after some time I found 3 companies who produce the portable x-ray unit. I then began communicating with the companies to find out more about what they had and what we could do to access the units.

SUCCESS!!! (Partially)

I was able to drill down and finally get the cost per unit, which ranges from $2000.00-$4000.00 which is a HUGE saving on the current offers for standard x-rays and the retail prices quoted by one online supplier. ALL the units work with self developing x-ray materials which is great because the digital x-ray sensors will cost me $5000.00 so I will use self developing x-rays.

FAILURE!!! (Partial)

I contacted my local dental council to discuss my findings about the products and lo and behold they had not heard of hand held portable x-ray units. So I explained to them the concept and as it stands today they want the same safety procedures in place as a fixed x-ray unit. So I am back where I started, today that is, but I know for a fact that in the UK and Germany the portable x-rays have been approved with far less stringent protocols as fixed x-rays. Now I begin the process of getting my dental council to approve portable x-ray units like they have been approved in the UK and Germany.

This is how you get ahead of the competition in your area, think, react, research and get ahead of the curve of what is available to other dentists and be the first to get something.