The thing is that the new cable will have all the problems that the old cable has. The problem is pretty simple you have copper wires that are of a very small gauge so that they can make the cable thin and flexible. To compare for you, a network cable has 24GA wires in it or .511 mm diameter wires and most sensors use 34GA wires or .16mm diameter wires. These are very thin wires and they are fairly long with significant flex points. As the wire flexes about 12,000 times a year the individual copper strands in the cable break down and sometimes disconnect all together. The connections between the sensors and the wire are also very tiny and the solder points themselves sometimes fail.

The problem they have is that although copper is flexible, when it gets that thin and gets moved that much it will inherently fail.

So why not do wireless? Well Schick wireless has several problems, one stuffing the wireless circuitry and a battery onto the back of the sensor. Not a lot of space there and transmission makes heat. The battery has to be very durable if you want it to last all day,
durable and compact equals expensive. The whole rig has to be waterproof as well, which isn’t hard, but it certainly adds to the size and staff already complain about the size of the sensors and placement.

So why not do a thicker cable? We use a replacement cable with 30GA wires, it adds 25% thickness to the overall sensor wire still very flexible but thicker that most modern sensor wires, about the same thickness as old Trophy sensor cables that lasted forever. Guess what we here all the time. “This wire is thicker than our old wire”

So why not make the cable replaceable. Schick did this as well trying to deal with the cable issue, but it has several issues. The connector they had to design to make the cable replaceable is pretty cool but also incredibly prone to failure and corrosion. They should have used Gold connectors sadly they didn’t and corrosion even if not visible to your eye really can screw up a low voltage signal. There second problem was have that connector lock to the sensor. They used a metal housing with very tiny screws to accomplish this, but this combined with the special contacts makes it a very expensive cable, not to mention it is just expensive to have custom cable manufacturing done when you need a connector that is used only for their purposes. Because when you are building blow mold and stamping systems on a small scale, (Schick is a small scale compared to for instance how many USB plugs 3M makes and sells a year. 10,000 compared to millions)

So there replaceable cable is more likely to fail because of how it has to be connected on top of it having the same failure points as their regular cable and it is expensive to make.

—————————————-

With the advent of CMOS sensors direct to USB like Dexis, E2V(XDR, QuickRay, Dentimax), Gendex and others there are now less wires in the cable heading to the sensor and theoretically the cable should be more durable, but there is a whole new downside. There is a lot of data processing that is now taking place right on the back of the sensor as well as the information that needs to be processed by the sensor to interface with the computer. All of this packed into the sensor housing and all very susceptible to voltage and amperage. AKA these babies are easy to burn out from minor voltage irregularities in a USB port. Personally I think every USB sensor especially Dexis sensor should only be plugged into power regulated USB ports. Meaning not only should the USB port be on a powered hub separate from the computer, but that powered hub shouldn’t be plugged into wall AC. Here is why. You wall AC can come out anywhere within 10% of 110Volts AC and still be acceptable to the power company so your computer could be getting 100-120 VAC which gets translated to your USB ports as 4.5VDC to 5.5VDC. This can damage fine circuitry. Most devices can deal with minor power fluctuations without damage but if the circuitry is small enough and there is no gate to let off extra voltage because there isn’t space for one then maybe it burns out the part of the sensor that talks to the computer.

We see a lot of Dexis Platinum’s that have this issue where they no longer tell the computer a sensor serial number. Dexis Platinum’s have to have the correct calibration files installed for the sensor you are using otherwise you get an error that says no calibration file is installed, but even with the utility that is supposed to fix this I saw 19 Dexis Platinum’s last year that were under 3 years old that had this issue and I cannot find a solution for it.

The biggest problem with Dental technology is across the board with all dental technology. The companies that manufacture and sell the technology want to do their best to control every angle of it. Building in roadblocks to repairing and servicing their technology. I believe the goal of Schein, Benco, and Patterson is for there to be no aftermarket for this type of equipment. They don’t want service centers for sensors, cerecs, and expensive lasers. If they can prevent the equipment from being able to be repaired or serviced it is a huge advantage for them , because unlike the auto industry they will never have to worry about fighting a significant used dental technology market. People will pay a good price for a used car because it can be certified and it can be repaired, but buying a used cerec isn’t like that. If you buy a used Cerec and it fails there is no one who can fix it for you and Cerec will punish you for buying a used Cerec by telling you have to pay thousands of dollars in back support fees and an ownership change over before they will even provide you an estimate for servicing the unit.

If you control the servicing of the units you can control the whole after market for them.

So my advice is simple. Buy a sensor that is reasonable if it fails in 4 years. (What exactly is reasonable, well let’s just say the cost of processing film) I’m going to calculate it out over 3 Life Cycles aka 12 Years and I’m not doing this to sell you, but maybe just to make what you have invested come into a less painful light.

So let’s put you on a 4 year life cycle
4 years of 2 Hygiene rooms and 3 Ops and you throw away sensors and computers every 4 years (Which isn’t farfetched, 5 year old computers are usually terrible and slow with all kinds of problems)

2 size 2s plus 1 size 1 for a total of 3 sensors which we discount 10% if you buy 3 at a time. So $12,586.50 in sensors
Apteryx and 10 licenses-Lifetime no re purchase.$3,370 (Apteryx software you can upgrade for free forever with no service contract so it’s like a film processor, buy it once and it will last a good long time. Dexis and other softwares are not like this, they require support contracts.

So sensors and software call it $15,956 (QuickRay Sensors Paired with Apteryx XrayVision)

You’ll need a computer and Monitor in Each Op and someone to install it.(Not counting front desk computers because let’s face it, you need those with or without digital X-Ray
So 5 computer and 5 22″ LCDs with installation we would charge 6K$ for that

Not including the server either because you need that for your front desk as well, but let’s say you did we charge 1995$ for a server and 22″ LCD with installation included in that price.

So let’s say over 3 cycles Meaning 3 cycles of computers and 3 cycles of sensors (12 Years) You would spend
Computers(12 Years-3 sets of computers and servers all installed professionally) =$23,985

3 Cycles of sensors (6 size 2s and 3 size 1s) = $37,759.50

One Time Purchase of Apteryx = $3,370
Total 12 Year cost of computers, servers, sensors getting tossed every 4 years = $65,114
That is a big old hunk of change but let’s just look at film in that time and I’ll be generous

1 Film Processor – $4,800 (you got a great deal on a PA only processor let’s say, Like a new Peri Pro)
2 Hygiene Rooms Worth of Bitewings (2 Rooms X 8 Patients/day X 4BWs/Patient X 4 Days/Week X 46 Weeks Per Year X 12 Years) = 141,312 BWs

I’ll throw in your water, processing fluid and all the PAs you take in your Doctors OP for free to match up with the cost of barrier shields for your sensors and holders, plus IT services. Heck I’ll even throw in the 35000 Bitewing holders you would have used in that time at least $.50 a piece.

So just the BWs you would take in Hygiene and just the cost of the film processor ignoring all the other costs is $61,324

So going digital on a 4 year turnaround is 4K$ more expensive over 12 years. And I think if you consider the costs of processing fluids, and those plastic BW holders you use to keep the x-rays organized into the chart you could see another 20K$ in possible costs on the film side which would give you $140 a month to put towards IT expenses which would be very low if none of your equipment is older than 4 years.

So on this plan you probably are not saving a dime over using film, but you get digital X-Ray, you get the space back that your film processor was stealing from you, you get to not have jugs of chemicals, you also could be paperless at this price reclaiming you a lot of space being used on storing charts.

I guess what I am saying is that the right sensor and computer system can be very comparable compared to film.

But here is where the equation changes. If you are buying Schick for instance?
about 8K$ a sensor chucking them ever 4 years and 120$ a month just in software support fees so you can keep updated with your imaging software it gets our cost of digital up to $89,280 + the computer cost ($23,985) = $113,265

So you can see that your choice of sensor system and software can really change your cost analysis vs. film

So a recap on the 12 years
Film = $61,324
QuickRay+XrayVision =$65,114
Schick+ES Image =$113,265

I’m only talking number here. If you really like the Schick sensors an extra $4,000 a year in cost may be completely reasonable for you and I would understand that as a business owner.

My point of this is not to say digital is inexpensive or that it is going to save you money over film. Maybe if you consider time of employees and such it just might. My point is that it is not that unreasonable what it costs if you pick the right system.

I also want to finish this post by saying Sirona (Schick) makes an excellent sensor and they are a good company. I think you will have the same excellent experience with QuickRay and Apteryx working with us.

I don’t know if this takes the sting out at all, but it might. Also you can see how the price can change if you can get that 5th year out of your systems. For instance sensors, don’t throw them out after 4 years but toss them when they fail. Computers on the other hand have a planned replacement because if you wait till they fail it could cut into your production being down a room, plus you tend to spend more over time if you are paying for added tech fees stretching the life out of computers or trying to get them overnighted in when you are down.

First I would suggest moving from softdent 9 to Open Dental. The new Softdent 14 that is supposed to work with Windows 7 and Server 2008 has continual server message issues and disconnect issues. It is frustrating to no end. Whereas Open Dental is on a new SQL database and runs great. Also Open Dental is free other than the 130$ a month support contract.They can convert his Softdent 9 database to Open Dental.

Secondly, Imaging software. Xray Vision, this is the option you should choose. I have dealt with 159 installs at this point and here is what seperates Xray Vision from other imaging software. 1. It works with every sensor except for Dexis. 2. The database is easily backed up and the Xray Vision server is easily moved when the server hardware is upgraded. 3. The Xray and Intra Oral Camera layouts can be customized and used with multiple different devices including digital cameras.

If you pick the right practice management and the right image management you have already solved 90% of the issues of going digital. If you pick Dentrix or Eaglesoft then you can look forward to Schein and Patterson making many of your purchasing decisions for you. Not to mention both of these programs have an array of issues with Windows 7 and Server 2008 that they claim will be fixed in the next version but never are. Server 2008 has been out for 3 years and the companies still haven’t fixed the errors.

Depending on your number of computers and operatories a traditional server may not be necessary. Server 2008 is a great asset for more than 9 computers. It makes security and management convenient but for an office with less than 9 computers it is an added level of complexity and expense that is not needed for less than 9 computers. We of course would still suggest the machine itself have a server Xeon processor, a quality raid controller for RAID 1 and at least a terabyte of space.

As for computers we do not build them. If an IT professional offers to build you computers for your office then you most likely have the wrong IT professional. No system builder builds enough machines to work out the bugs in their parts choices. Also, no system builder can supply a 3 year or 5 year warranty like Dell can with a next business day guarantee. The trick to buying Dell is to not purchase the cheaper home user versions like the Vostro series. We always use the business lines like the Optiplex series and we always use at least the middle of the processor options. Many people end up with bad Dell computers because their IT guy picked the least amount of RAM, the lowest grade processor and the onboard video card so they could have more markup on their sale.

When it comes to monitors in operatories the important thing is to avoid track mounts or expensive ceiling mounts for getting small screens closer to the patient. Instead, mount a 32” lcd to the wall and to the ceiling and a 12 oclock behind the patient and tie these all into one computer. These 3 monitors will cost less than the traditional track mounted monitor with medical grade monitor.

Network is your next concern. Always run category 6 network cables from the network closet all the way to the computer operatories, front desk PCs and network printers. Many IT companies get lazy and daisy chain switches so they can run one long network run and branch off multiple PCs. This always leads to network slow downs and problems in the future. Absolutely do not use wireless as a network options.

Digital X-Ray sensors are the next most important decision to make. Dexis 12K$ per sensor plus 8K$ for Dexis Image includes a 1 year warranty and additional years warranties are 1500$ per year per sensor. We do not suggest the big names in sensors, Schick, Dexis, Gendex and Kodak are all greatly over priced and in our experience of repairing sensors the only big difference we have found is price not quality. The QuickRay sensor which is the same sensor as the XDR is a direct to USB sensor, modeled after the Dexis Platinum is $4,997 for a size 2 and $4,597 for a size 1. These sensors take gre
at images, are comfortable and are priced well. The imaging software (Xray vision) is around 3500$ with 10 licenses.

If you would like us to quote out the job based on these specs please tell us how many operatories, front desk stations, and private offices the practice has. Also, please tell us the max number of Hygienists and doctors working at any one time.

Sincerely,

Shawn Hall
Co Owner Sodium Systems
Office Phone: 800.821.8962
Email: Shawn@SodiumSystems.com

First thing you have to do is download and install the Kodak RVG TWAIN Driver from the Carestream website here.

Once the RVG TWAIN driver is installed go ahead and open up a patient in your Dexis software and then click on the Dexis logo in the top right corner of the window (Check out picture below)

Once the preferences window is open click on the “DEXray” tab.  Under the DEXray tab select the drop down box next to “Scanner”.  In the drop down box choose the RVG TWAIN option.

Once the RVG TWAIN option is chosen go ahead and plug in your Kodak sensor and then click on the scanner button (See pic below)

When you click on the scanner button it will open up the Kodak sensor ready count down window (see below).  Once that countdown starts, go ahead and shoot it with some radiation!!

VOILA!  You just took an xray with a Kodak sensor into the Dexis software.  How cool is that!??!  Wahooooooo!!  :)  See, I guess Dexis isn’t so bad after all.

Sure this isn’t the best option since it’s kind of a pain to have to hit the scanner button for each and every xray you want to take but hey if you’ve got Dexis software and sensors and just happen to have a Kodak sensor laying around collecting dust it just might be worth the small inconvenience!

This doctor has 4 Dexis sensors 2 of them do not work and 2 do. He has spent over 48000$ with Dexis 4 10K$ sensors and the 8K$ he paid for Dexis.Now 5 years down the road Dexis wants him to invest another 24K$ to get 2 new Dexis sensors and that is when he came to us.

I showed him side by side images of Dexis sensor images and E2V sensor images.
I showed him side by side images of the actual sensors next to each other.
I showed him Dexis vs Apteryx Xray Vision (The imaging software I would suggest for any dentist no matter what sensor they have)

What we came to conclude was that the biggest difference between the Dexis platinum and the Direct to USB E2V sensor was the price.
E2V size 2 4995$
Dexis Platinum 12K$

Just think of what Schein and Dexis have cost the doctor in his practice. He is 48K$ in the whole on purchases and over those 5 years he has carried the warranty on 2 of his sensors adding on an additional 3K$ per year minus the first year when the sensors included the warranty. That is another 12K$ so the doctor is 60K$ invested. Lets just think about where the doctor would have been if his rep had actually done what was best for him and told him about some of these much less expensive sensors.

4 E2V sensors – All 4 with 5 year warranties – $23,980
Apteryx Xray Vision with 10 seat licenses – $2595

That means on sensors alone the doctor could have saved $33,425

$33K could cover the doctors computer network, big screen tvs in the patient rooms, intra oral cameras and other pieces of technology that would boost case presentation and staff productivity. But instead that 33K$ just went to Schein making more money.

This astronomical cost difference is caused by Dexis wanting to get rich off of a sensor they paid another company to design and produce, then they middle man it to Henry Schein who wants to get rich off of the already middle manned product.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Re: David & Patrick’s Comments In The Comments Section

We’ve been fortunate enough to recruit a Kodak x-ray sensor technician to help our team out with repairing Kodak and Carestream digital x-ray sensors for all of our Kodak dental offices!  He will be handling only Kodak / Carestream digital xray sensors and nothing else. In conjunction with working daily to push out quality sensor repair our Kodak technician will also be training a few of our other technicians how to repair Kodak sensors.  This will put our Kodak repair quality at the top!

This is great news for us and all of our Kodak / Carestream x-ray sensor clients.  Having a specialized Kodak repair technician in house means that we can continue to put out high quality digital dental xray sensor repairs for you and it cuts our sensor repair turn around time for Kodak sensors in half!

If you’re one of our other sensor clients don’t fret!  We still have technicians that can repair any of your Dexis, Schick, Eva, XDR, Camsight, Suni, etc digital xray sensors!  Plus we are working on recruiting even more specialized xray sensor technicians from all of the major sensor companys so that we can spread our high quality sensor repair to other markets!

Want more information about our dental digital x-ray sensor repair?  Check out our digital sensor repair page to find out how you can get your sensor repaired at a fraction of the cost of a new or refurbished sensor!

Many dentists would be surprised to find that their practice doesn’t show up in Google or Google Maps search results.  You could be missing out on a large portion of your market if your practice is not registered with Google Maps.  Visit Google Maps and do a quick search for your name and/or practice name, let me know what you find.

If your practice is already registered on Google Maps then your practice should show up something like Google Maps Search Result A.  (Click on image below to view it larger)

Google Maps Search Result A

Google Maps Search Result B

As you can see in the image above there are two different types of search results for “dentists in Baltimore”.  Search Result B is a tiny plain dot.  This tiny plain dot falls into the background when the typical patient is searching for a practice since they have multiple large pins with letter assignments sticking out of the map that are much larger then the tiny plain dots.  Clicking on this tiny dot will result in a small pop up window, similar to the one in Search Result A but it only shows your name and/or practice name, address, and phone number (if available).  This is your most basic listing on Google maps and isn’t much more effective than a basic listing in your local YellowPages.

Search result A is the type of result that you want for your practice.  Search result A provides your practice with a large pin on the Google Map as well as a letter assignment within that pin.  This letter assignment corresponds to an even larger ad on the left side bar on the Google Maps page.  As you can see in the image above, search result A also provides the user with all sorts of wonderful information about your practice including:

• Practice Name and/or Your Name
• Practice address
• Link to practice’s website
• A link for your existing patients to write reviews about your practice
• Links to your Google Places page for your business (Google Places Example Image Below)

As you can see in the Search Result A example above there is a link for “reviews”.  Clicking on the “reviews” link will bring you to that practice’s Google Places page (Example Image Below).  Google Places is like a basic web page for your business, and it’s FREE!  Google Places is super simple to set up for your practice and can provide your patients and potential future patients a great online store front type atmosphere when they’re looking up dentists in their area.  Google Places is a great free tool that I think every practice and small business should utilize to increase traffic to their website and physical store front.

Google Places Example for Dental Practice

As you can see in the image above your Google Places page can provide all sorts of information about your practice, the only catch?   ……YOU actually have to set this up for yourself, or have your IT guy, website company, or Sodium Systems set this up for you.

Google Places gives your practice a highly ranked free webpage on Google search results where you can provide information to your patients and potential new patients.  Information such as:

• Basic info like practice name, address, phone number, link to website
• Daily practice hours
• Description of your practice and any specialties or products that you recommend
• A listing of any awards or certificates that you have received
• Any images that you would like to post such as before and afters, examples of products you recommend, etc
• Any videos that you would like to post such as patient testimonials or patient education (videos link to your youtube channel)
• Google Places automatically provides patients a method of directions to get to your practice such as driving directions, walking directions, and even bus routes and directions!
• PLUS! It allows your patients to post reviews about your practice which can greatly increase the chances of a potential new patient to choose your practice

Sodium Systems Google Places Example

Sodium Systems can set your Google Places account up for you.  If you are interested in this service please visit our Contact Us page and send us a message or you can call us at 1-800-821-8962

Sodium Systems has been helping doctors find buyers for their Cerec equipment for years. Our no hassle service allows you to focus on dentistry while we do the leg work for finding a buyer for your Cerec.  Our nationwide network of doctors and equipment companies allows us to negotiate the best possible selling price for your used Cerec.

Getting your Cerec sold is as easy as calling us at 1-800-821-8962 or emailing us at support@sodiumsystems.com

Dexis PCMCIA Sensor Board

Ever since my last post about repairing a Kodak RVG 6100 sensor for a customer we have been getting at least one phone call a day from doctors around the WORLD looking to have their sensors repaired.  There are of course some sensors that we are unable to repair but more often than not we can fix nearly any issue with any sensor on the market.  We also have the means to test the sensors we repair with a tube head and imaging software.

It doesn’t really surprise me that most, if not all, sensor companies do not repair sensors for their customers.  Repairing sensors is a time consuming and tedious process most of the time.  Sensors have intricate circuit boards, custom connectors like the Swedish made Scher connector that the old Dexis PCMCIA sensors use, and very small gauge wires within them making it difficult to replace wires or fix solder points.

Every sensor that we receive gets at minimum 4 hours of man hours into each repair.  Sometimes it takes even longer because finding the fault in a sensor can be very difficult at times.  Generally our process for a sensor is:

1. Dr ships sensor to us at his expense
2. We receive sensor and troubleshoot, finding the fault
3. We send Dr and estimate for repair via email or fax
4. Dr approves repair estimate
5. Repair is complete
6. Sensor is tested
7. Payment is accepted
8. Sensor is shipped back to Dr

Broken Trigger Wire On Eva Sensor

This process works very well and allows the Dr to get an idea for the cost of repairs before paying any money.  Although repairing sensors is time consuming, the cost of repair is fractional compared to purchasing a replacement sensor and our turn around time is usually only a few days.

Since my original post, We Fix Out Of Warranty Sensors, we have repaired nearly 40 sensors for doctors in the USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany.  Out of the 40 sensors 37 of them have been fully repairable and are back in use at the doctors practice.

If you have a broken Schick, Dexis, Suni, MyRay, Eva, Camsight, or any other sensor than give us a call @ 800-821-8962, drop us an email @ support@sodiumsystems.com, or leave a comment below.  We can help you get your sensor back in use!

Or fill out the submission form at this link and follow the shipping instructions.

Sensor Repair Submission Form

The Zen sensors have cut corners, a two fold filtering system to give crisp high detailed image boasting 25 lp/mm.

The sensors also have an inexpensive option to extend their 2 year warranty to 5 years for under 900$ a sensor at time of purchase.

The other advantage that has made me very happy with the zen sensor is the ability to purchase a device called an XPOD with it. This device is smaller than an IPAD and contains its own imaging software, with a touch screen and the ability to plug the ZEN sensors directly into it so that you can take your in office sensors anywhere you might want to go and capture X-Rays. This especially helpful if you are a specialist and you travel to multiple offices or if you enjoy traveling to other countries and volunteering your services on mission trips. All in all the MyRay sensor solution is very elegant.

This fix should alleviate issues with the appointment book not refreshing at workstations and issues with errors showing up on screens that say your file is locked open at a different location.

1. Shut down all workstations except for your server.
2. Shut down all Dentrix software on the server, including any Dentrix related apps running in your task manager
3. Run a complete backup of your Dentrix folder and make sure if your Dentrix Data folder isn’t in your Dentrix folder, make sure this Data folder is fully backed up as well.
4. In The Dentrix Folder on your server run _abconv.exe press OKAY to the popup message.
5. Click Convert to Appointment Book and then click OK
6. Now Run _Maint.exe and choose the option clear Machine IDs
7. Now Reboot your server and turn on your workstations and open appointment book one at a time
8. To be fully sure this has worked Turn off opportunistic locking on all machines including the serverThe location of the client registry entry for opportunistic locking has changed from the location in Microsoft Windows NT. In later versions of Windows, you can disable opportunistic locking by setting the following registry entry to 1:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MRXSmb\Parameters\
   OplocksDisabled REG_DWORD 0 or 1
   Default: 0 (not disabled)

   Note The OplocksDisabled entry configures Windows clients to request or not to request opportunistic locks on a remote file.

   You can also deny the granting of opportunistic locks by setting the following registry entry to 0:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
   EnableOplocks REG_DWORD 0 or 1
   Default: 1 (enabled)

If these Keys don’t exist you will need to make them.