One of the most important devices ever invented to help doctors in diagnosis of disease is the X-ray. By the use of this equipment, accompanied by various substances taken by mouth or injected into various cavities, all sorts of changes can be detected in their earliest stages. Your dentist uses X-ray to find cavities in teeth or abscesses at the roots of teeth. The brain specialist is helped in finding tumors or abscesses in the brain and spinal cord.
The nose and throat specialist uses X-ray, particularly for finding trouble in the sinuses. The earliest signs of tuberculosis or silicosis in the lungs may be seen in X-ray pictures. The gastroenterologist who specializes in conditions of the stomach and intestines uses X-ray to locate ulcers or tumors in the stomach and duodenum, or in other portions of the thirty feet of intestines. Indeed, every specialty in medicine has been so greatly helped by X-ray that it must be considered one of the greatest discoveries ever made in medical science.