How Second Opinion 3D solves the top three CBCT challenges for general dentistry

You invested in CBCT software to elevate your standard of care, but most traditional machines are designed for complex, technical image review and engineered for radiologists and specialists first, with general dentists and practice workflow as afterthoughts.

Second Opinion 3D is built the other way around, giving you a simpler way to review those scans, understand complex anatomy, and communicate findings directly with your patients.

The Top 4 Challenges of Traditional CBCT Viewers

1. Reviewing a CBCT scan manually takes time and expertise. Traditional viewers cater to technical image review, creating a steep learning curve and cumbersome navigation. You end up having to spend valuable time navigating the software, which increases the risk of missing treatment opportunities and greater patient connection.
2. CBCTs are complex and reading them can be complicated. CBCT scans are incredibly complex, capturing hundreds of raw 2D x-rays from various angles, with a half-millimeter space between each one. The machine then compiles the images into a solid 3D block made of voxels, or three-dimensional pixels.
3. Patient communication presents an equal challenge. CBCT scans are made up of hundreds of black-and-white radiographic slices that dentists have to scroll through and interpret to identify anatomy and pathology. To patients, these images are very abstract, looking more like a Rorschardt test than recognizable anatomy. Translating findings from a traditional CBCT scan into something patients can actually understand is difficult, making it even harder to build trust and gain case acceptance.
4. Insurance payors require 2D documentation for claims. You and your staff must manually convert relevant 3D findings into usable 2D images, adding tedious administrative work to your day.

What is Second Opinion 3D?

Second Opinion 3D makes CBCT easier to use in your daily practice. The software automatically identifies and visualizes key, color-coded anatomical structures, including the airway, nasal space, maxillary complex, mandible, inferior alveolar nerve canal and teeth 1–32 with individual segmentation.

An interactive 3D viewer gives you tools to zoom, rotate, adjust opacity, measure length, isolate specific structures and generate a virtual panoramic output.* Together, these capabilities make CBCT easy to navigate and incorporate into your clinical workflow.

Bringing Key Anatomy Into View

Pearl-powered visualization helps you identify important structures instantly. Highlighting or isolating the airway, nasal space, maxillary complex, mandible and IAN canal provides a clear view of the anatomy most relevant to your case. This supports greater diagnostic confidence and helps you quickly find details that inform your treatment decisions.

Making Patient Conversations More Visual

With clear visuals, your treatment presentations become more compelling. Patients see what you see easily, and can spend more time considering your diagnosis than trying to parse pixels.  

Second Opinion 3D lets you manipulate the scan, and isolate structures so you can present findings from different perspectives, right at the chair.

Discuss root canal treatments by showing root anatomy from multiple angles. Or, during an oral surgery consultation, highlight the relationship between a treatment area and critical structures like the IAN canal or sinus. These intuitive visuals help your patients understand the exact anatomy behind your treatment recommendations.

Supporting Radiology Review and Documentation

When you need a specialist’s review, referral reports are just a click away, Second Opinion 3D includes a button to request a review from a board-certified oral and maxillofacial radiologist directly within the interface. This embedded workflow keeps your administrative friction to a minimum.

The platform also solves your billing headaches, helping your team isolate relevant CBCT findings and turn them into claim-ready 2D images. This provides the exact documentation you need to support stronger claims and secure better reimbursement outcomes.

Bringing 2D and 3D Imaging Together

Second Opinion 3D integrates directly with your 2D radiographs and intraoral photos within the Pearl platform. Move seamlessly between imaging types in one connected experience. This unified approach supports a highly consistent review and communication process across all your imaging formats.

A More Practical Way to Use CBCT

Extract the full practical value from your imaging equipment. Visualization powered by Pearl brings key structures into focus. Interactive tools make your scans easy to navigate. Patient-focused imagery supports your case presentations. Embedded radiology reports and documentation tools simplify your daily follow-through.

By extending Pearl’s x-ray clarity into 3D, Second Opinion 3D gives you a highly usable tool for reviewing anatomy, communicating findings, and elevating your patient care.

Learn more about Second Opinion 3D here.

*Pathology detection is not cleared for use in all markets.