ViewBox for iPad and iPhone

--view and digitize X-ray films with your iProducts

Having worked as an associate dentist in several dental practices, I have noticed how many dentists say they want to, but are not yet ready, to "go digital". Wether it's the expense of introducing new technology in the office, the burden of learning to operate new software, or simply the fear of the unknown, a lot of offices still use plain film X-rays. Conventional photographic X-ray films capture crisp images with a lot of detail and, although are quite small, they are great for diagnosis.

In my daily practice of dentistry I often come across situations in which I have to call upon a colleague for a second opinion or a consult. This often requires sharing diagnostic images such as plain film radiographs. I realized that in situations such as these there are some drawbacks to being old school. In one particular case I required a consult from an endodontist. I was going to mail the X-ray  to him but I thought, If I send the original to the specialist, it might not make it back to my office. If I give it to the patient she might lose it on the subway. As I sat there, I thought, wouldn't it be nice if someone figured out a simple way to digitize this X-ray so I can transfer it electronically?  I don't want to buy an X-ray scanner for this, my current office does not have an X-ray duplicator. Will my iProducts synergize and allow me to take a decent photo of it?

So I thought I would try.

Using my iPhone to take a picture of the good old X-ray viewer didn't work. Some brown lines started scrolling on the screen of my iPhone 4S. After doing a bit of research, I found out that the fluorescent lights inside my viewer produced pulsating light at a frequency 60 Hz (50Hz in the EU) which was much too slow for my iPhone. All shutter speeds faster than this will produce artifacts. Similarly, my cannon camera struggled.

As I often do, I asked myself, "why doesn't someone make an app for this",  to allow us to view and digitize our images?. Wait a minute why don't I make that? Enter Salpy Kelian. A crafty developer I met at the former University of Western Ontario in the year 2000. She was able to prodice a prototype in less than a week.

Introducing ViewBox app for iPhone and iPad.

A very simple app that will offer your beloved iPhone and iPad yet another new functionality. It is designed to turn your iPhone or iPad into an X-ray view box. That’s it, very simple, yet very useful.  Just place your X-ray films on top of the device screen and watch them light up.

1. View your X-rays at your desk. Adjust the backlight and turn off the room lights.

2. Use the handy ruler to accurately measure distances and working lengths.

3. Digitize your X-rays (requires a camera or second iProduct).

4. Eliminates the brown lines caused by the flicker of the neon bulbs.

The following images were taken of an iPad or and iPhone running ViewBox. Several cameras were used to illustrate possible combinations.  The quality is amazing and the pictures are ready to email, edit, print etc.

 

 

That’s it, you’ve discovered yet another useful function for your beloved iPad. This app was made for the sole purpose of simplifying a fairly common task for professionals who work with plain film X-rays. Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

Watch a video of the app in action.

Gett the app from the App Store or BlackBerry App World.

View Salpy Kelian's portfolio.

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Andrei Ionescu BSc, DMD