Dexis Dental Sensor White Image Issue

Below is a recent question that was posted in the comment section of our Digital Sensor Repair Submission Form about a white image issue that a Dexis dental sensor is having. Most of these trouble shooting steps can be applied to just about any dental x-ray sensor for any issue.

Dexis Dental Sensor DexUSB Interface

The goal of this troubleshooting method is to determine if the issue with a Dexis dental sensor is being caused by:

Imaging software
Digital sensor
Interface box (if applicable)
X-ray generator or tube-head
Computer hardware / USB ports

*Note: We highly recommend using powered USB hubs with not just dexis dental sensors but ALL digital x-ray sensors. If you are currently having issues and are not using powered USB hubs I suggest making this your first move not only in troubleshooting a faulty sensor but also prolonging the life of your current and future digital x-ray sensors.

Question:

From Dr Rob:
 "We are using a dexis dental sensor with a box. Our system just started picking up white images. We have re-installed the program, tried a different box and use 2 diff sensors with the same result. Any idea?"

Response:

When you say you are using a box do you mean the DexUSB box or the Dexbox? (The DexUSB box is small, all white, and says DexUSB on the back of the box.)
Did the white image issue start happening all at the same time?
Have you tried a sensor that you know for a fact is working correctly, such as a sensor from another Dr’s office?
Is this happening on multiple computers?
Do you have more than one x-ray tube-head?
When you are testing the sensors are you testing by putting the sensor in someone’s mouth or are you simply laying something metal on the sensor and putting the tube head right over the sensor?

There a a few different factors that can result in white images or no images. Your sensor interface boxes could be bad, your tube-head could be bad, both of your x-ray sensors could be bad, or poor placement of the tube-head.

I suggest first, make sure you are testing with something metal placed over the sensor and have the tube-head right on top of the sensor. <- this will factor out any issues with improper placement of the tube-head/sensor in a patients mouth.
If you still get a white image, move to a different room with different tube-head and test. If you still get a white image in the different room/tube-head than we know we have factored out the tube-head being an issue.
Test your DexUSB box (if it is a dexUSB) on multiple USB ports on the computer. Although unlikely, a USB port could have an issue. I highly suggest buying a powered USB hub if you do not already have one.
If moving USB ports and buying a powered USB hub didn’t fix the issue then we should test the Dexis dental sensor again being sure to accurately record what combination of DexUSB/sensor we are using. This can be done by tracking serial numbers. It may seem silly buy I have had offices think that they were trying different combinations when in reality they were using the same interface/sensor combo for testing.
Test both sensors with one of the DexUSB boxes and then test both sensors with the other DexUSB box.
If the white image issue still occurs with both DexUSB boxes and sensors then let’s try testing with a different computer. Go ahead and install Dexis on a fresh desktop or laptop and test the sensors with that computer. If the white image issue occurs on the fresh computer then we know that this is definitely a hardware issue with the sensor or DexUSB.
At this point the only other testing that you would be able to do would be to either take your sensors and DexUSB boxes to another office that uses Dexis or as another office if you can borrow their Dexis dental sensor to test in your office.

Although it is odd that both Dexis sensors would begin to have this white image issue at the same time it is possible that both sensors and/or boxes are malfunctioning. Your best bet would be to send them in to us for evaluation. If we get them in and they work perfectly fine in our office we will simply notify you of our findings and ship your Dexis sensors back to you. Of course if they do have issues than our Dexis repair techs can inform you of the issues and produce an estimate for repair.

Feel free to comment below if you have any more questions or would like to continue the dialog.

Dexis Dental Sensor White Image Issue – Troubleshooting Guide