Taking regular periapical films in a small mouth can be a problem.  You
may wish to ask around for a dentist with a panoramic machine.  A
panoramic x-ray with a few bitewing films can usually give a dentist
enough clinical information to proceed.  Exceptions will be root canals
or periodontal problems.

Steve

Even better than panoramic is "bisecting angle" technique.
Its painless. If the office people say, "Who? What?" they
are the wrong office.

Joe

--
Joel34

________________________-

It would be very helpful to find a dentist who is willing to work with
you on this problem. The solution is not to find a dentist who doesn't
take the necessary xrays, but to find a way that the needed films can
be done without excessive discomfort.

Delta strictly limits the compensation to the dentist for any of his
work, and will not cover any of his time and effort that goes beyond
the normal, easy, fast xray exam. So it might be hard to find a dentist
willing to put out the extra time and work for free.

Even if he is willing to spend some time with you for free (and I know
a number of dentists who will go that extra mile for their patients),
he still has to pay the office staff for that time -- and believe me,
the office staff will NOT want to work for you for free!

Often the best solution is to use an experienced dental xray
laboratory. Such labs have vast experience with difficult dental xray
situations, as they work with them so often, and have developed great
expertise. Time and time again, patients who have said they NEVER have
been able to tolerate normal dental xrays are amazed at how easily
their necessary films have been taken.

Patients in my region who have always resisted dental films have been
very happy with the services of a nearby dental xray lab.

I don't know where you are located, but in my state, any dentist who
proceeds with dental diagnosis and treatment without diagnostic xray
films is placing himself in great danger of malpractice accusations.
Even if he wins the case, a dentist facing such an accusation must
spend huge amounts of money in defense. Cutting corners with a single
patient simply isn't worth it -- and a dentist would be foolish to
pretend that he knows the dental condition of a patient without proper
radiographs anyway.

Don't give up -- this is a solvable situation.

Best regards,
- dentaldoc