Oral and maxillofacial radiology, also called dental and maxillofacial radiology, is the dental specialty that carries out and interprets the diagnostic imaging of the face, skull, teeth and surrounding structures.
What oral & maxillofacial radiology covers
Oral and maxillofacial radiology (OMFR, also called DMFR) is one of the nine dental specialties recognised by the American Dental Association, the Royal College of Dentists of Canada and the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.
Imaging methods Across the specialty as a whole, imaging methods include:
- cone beam CT (CBCT) and multislice CT,
- MRI, PET and ultrasound,
- dental panoramic radiography and cephalometric imaging,
- intraoral imaging (bitewing, periapical and occlusal X-rays),
- special tests such as sialography.
Other methods are in use or under development, such as visible-light imaging, optical coherence tomography and terahertz imaging, as well as haptic and robotic image-guidance devices.
Note: this list describes the specialty in general, not the equipment of our practice.
The history of X-rays in dentistry
The discovery of X-rays gave dentistry its most valuable diagnostic aid. Just one month after the announcement of this “magic light”, which could pass through wood, metal and human tissue, Dr Otto Walkhoff applied it to dentistry. With the technology of the time, it took 25 minutes to image the bones of the face. From Michail Michalakis’s postgraduate thesis “The paediatric patient and dental radiology: indications, limitations, absorbed dose”