Direct Digital Technology - CCD/SuperCMOS Sensor
This commonly takes the form of a sensor connected directly to a computer. This technology digitises the most common sizes of intra oral, OPG and Ceph images. There are several makes of direct digital sensor currently available, with Kodak Dental Systems (formerly Trophy Radiologie) leading this market sector.

This particular technology suits the majority of dental practices and is especially useful for endodontics and implantology where rapid turnaround of images may be required.

Indirect Digital Technology - Image Plate Scanners
The other type of Digital x-ray system makes use of flexible, film-like image plates which are exposed in the same way as conventional film.

Instead of then processing the film in a chemical processor, these image plates are scanned using a special digital scanner which records the captured information and transforms it into a radiographic image on screen. Recent advances in image plate and scanner technology means that quality and speed is now comparable to the best direct digital systems, with both types of technology now producing image quality superior to conventional film.