Preface
I have been working for fifteen years on software and digital systems for dental diagnostic imaging. This period of time can be compared to other 150-year periods in terms of technological changes, innovations, and revolutions. It is sufficient to think about our everyday life and how it has changed thanks to ever advancing computers, cellular phones, and the Internet. In dentistry, after slow progress in the 1990s, a real explosion of digital two-dimensional radiology occurred in the early 2000s, especially in the sector of intra-oral systems (sensors and phosphor systems) but also in the sector of extra-oral systems (panoramic units). Lower costs and better performance and quality have led to this revolution, which is also thanks to our capacity to use information technology in our everyday life. All these factors, as well as other innovative ideas, have done something more in these last few years: they have offered to any dental office (even those with one operator) a new extraordinary diagnostic procedure by means of 3D radiological systems. The challenge to the end user (dentists) and to those who, like me, have chosen to work to supply instruments, services, and application knowledge to use digital technology has been huge. We all had to learn and face absolutely new problems, put forward ideas and intuitions and fight against prejudice and well-established stances—that means hard work. Satisfaction and gratification have been great, especially in finding how helpful this technology can be in diagnosis, clinical planning, and communication with patients. Sharing all this with professional people and friends like Emanuele and Roberto has been crucial. Without their help, skill, and cooperation, everything would have been much more difficult and much less profitable. To them, my sincere thanks because they have let me live this experience giving way to the idea of this book. I think that all of us—me for sure—developed this idea with the basic belief that in complex and multidisciplinary fields, like the 3D radiological sector, the winning option is teamwork among people with different skills. Finally, many thanks to those who have contributed to make this idea come true and to the publisher of this book. Fiumana (FC), December 2, 2012
Riccardo Laziosi
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