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According To “Dr. Wo” Wm. Randol Womack, DDS Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

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Is CBCT on Your Bucket List?
by Wm. Randol Womack, DDS, Board Certified Orthodontist
Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

Since its inception, Orthotown Magazine has led the field in reviewing, evaluating, discussing, asking for viewpoints and getting opinions about the impact of 3D Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) imaging on the orthodontic profession. There are many questions yet to be asked but many answers are bursting forth, because of the efforts of vendors, to elevate the level of the technology to the profession with startling – even “mind-boggling” – effectiveness.

I am returning from the first users meeting for Anatomage, the developer of Invivo software. This meeting featured a showcase of speakers that could be described in no other way than outstanding. Drs. David Hatcher, James Mah and Doug Chenin are a few of the more recognizable names for orthodontists. The other speakers from outside the orthodontic profession brought a plethora of information to the platform that was extraordinarily fascinating and just purely amazing. If you get a chance to hear Dr. Paul Brown from Stanford speak on the influence of Virtual Reality on Dentistry, take my advice, don’t miss it!

I always like to review the “pearls” I come away from a meeting with – what really made an impression on me. This meeting had too many to list in this short dissertation. But relative to impact, they might go as follows (in no particular order):
  1. CBCT technology is disruptive to the dental profession.
  2. Tomograms are useless.
  3. Classic modes of diagnosis are becoming outdated without CBCT evaluation.
  4. Why would anyone ever buy a panoramic X-ray?
  5. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a 3D image is worth 1,000 pictures.
  6. The magic is in the software.
  7. Backward thinking: “I only get a CBCT scan if I see something on the pano.”
  8. Using a pano for evaluating root positions is like looking at yourself in the “house of mirrors.”
  9. Granite countertops from South America can emit X-rays.
  10. It used to be the dentist with the best hands will be the best dentist. Today, the dentist with the best technology will be the best dentist.
  11. Three most commonly asked questions about CBCT: 1. What is the cost? 2. How much radiation does it emit? 3. What is the cost?
  12. CBCT is becoming a sustaining technology in dentistry and this has come about in the last 10 years.
  13. If you don’t have or use CBCT, you are being left behind. If you have CBCT and you don’t know how to use it or the software, there’s probably something wrong with you.
To be honest, I was simply “blown away” at this meeting by the amount of information that Anatamoge has incorporated into its Invivo 5 software. Not to make this a commercial, but because of this meeting, I am now highly motivated to learn to navigate the inner workings of my CBCT scans, go to the next available CBCT meeting, look hard at the AAO meeting for the newest and best technology, take a “hands-on” training session from one of the “experts,” etc. It has become what you might call my technology “bucket list.” I can assure you that all the latest developments in this technology and its use in orthodontics will be forthcoming in Orthotown Magazine, so be looking for them. These will include, but are not limited to, software development, hardware development, utilization of technology in the daily practice of orthodontics, the technology liability issue, the standard of care and many others. You also might consider making your own technology “bucket list” and begin working on it right away.
Orthotown Magazine
October 2025
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