Key Points
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Records an important addition to the history of early dental radiographs.
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Shows the diagnostic value of dental radiology at the earliest stage.
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Demonstrates the archival value of dental radiographs.
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Provides a reminder of the need for radiation safety.
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Indicates the value of dental radiographs in encouraging preventive dentistry.
Abstract
This paper examines the lost Clark X-ray images and the birth of dental radiographs. Whilst there were important developments arising at the end of the nineteenth century with regard to radiological processes, it was a time when the need for radiation safety was unknown resulting in harmful and often fatal consequences. We are therefore indebted to our predecessors who, through these discoveries, have shaped today's methods and safe practising of radiography.
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Acknowledgements
The kind assistance of Peter Hirschmann for information about Harrison, about whom a recent paper has also been published in the BDJ,14 and of the librarians of the BDA is gratefully acknowledged.
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Bishop, M. The lost 1896 Clark X-ray images. Br Dent J 214, 187–190 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2013.155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2013.155
