The end of CDs in dentistry: how to share CBCT scans in 2026

A large percentage of CBCT scans in 2026 still leave the radiology center on a CD or a USB stick. The recipient — a general dentist, a specialist, a surgical team — walks back to the office, tries to insert the CD into a laptop that has no CD drive, gives up, and calls the radiology center asking for it to be re-sent by email. That email arrives as a 600 MB ZIP that bounces off the recipient's mail server. Eventually somebody WhatsApps a JPEG screenshot.

This is not a fringe problem. It's the median workflow in most of the world. Let's break it down.

Why CDs persist in 2026

Three reasons.

Scanner software was designed in 2008. Romexis, CS Imaging, Ez3D-i, Sidexis and their peers were built when burning CDs was normal and broadband was slow. The "export to CD" workflow is a first-class feature. "Share via link" was a 2020s afterthought at best.

Viewer software won't open anywhere else. Each scanner ships a Windows-only viewer. If the radiology center doesn't bundle that viewer with the scan, the recipient can't open it. So they burn a CD with both the DICOM folder and a copy of CSImaging.exe / RomexisViewer.exe.

Institutional inertia. "This is how we've always done it." Many centers haven't tried anything else because nothing obviously better was available until recently.

What CDs actually cost

The sticker price of a CD is nothing. The real cost is elsewhere.

• Labor: 5–10 minutes per scan to burn, label and package. At 20 scans a day that's 100–200 minutes of staff time daily.
• Delivery delay: 1–3 business days for the dentist to pick up or receive by courier. Patient waits.
• Failed deliveries: ~15–25 % of CDs fail at the recipient — no CD drive, viewer won't install, wrong OS, bad burn. Each failure requires a re-send.
• Storage: stacks of CDs in the center's archive that nobody wants to throw out and nobody can index.
• HIPAA/GDPR risk: a CD lost in the mail or on a dentist's car floor is a PHI breach. No encryption, no access log.

Rough estimate for a mid-size radiology center doing 500 CBCTs/month: 40–80 staff-hours monthly on CD logistics, plus 75–125 re-sends, plus ongoing breach exposure.

What to replace CDs with

Option A: a shared link

The simplest replacement: after acquisition, upload the DICOM to a web viewer and share a link. The referring dentist clicks the link on any device — Mac, Windows, iPad, phone — and sees the study immediately.

This is what CBCTHub's sharing flow does. A link carries zero installation burden, works across platforms, and can carry an expiry date and access log.

Patient link, specialist link and internal read link can all point at the same study with different access levels.

Option B: DICOMweb push to a PACS

If the receiver operates a PACS (most hospital networks, some group practices), push DICOM files directly from the scanner to the receiver's PACS via DICOMweb (WADO-RS/STOW-RS) or DIMSE.

This is the cleanest workflow for hospital-scale operations. It requires both sides to configure, but once in place, CBCTs land in the receiver's reading queue automatically.

Option C: email a DICOM JPEG report

For non-diagnostic communication — "here's what I found, here's the area of interest" — an annotated screenshot email is fine. It's not the scan itself, but it's often enough for the referring dentist's decision.

Caveat: never send this as a substitute for the actual DICOM when the recipient needs to measure, re-window or reconstruct. JPEG discards the data they'd need.

Transition plan (2 weeks)

For a radiology center moving off CDs:

1. Week 1: set up your chosen link-based viewer with a test account. Upload 10 historical scans. Verify they open on Mac, Windows and iPad.
2. Week 1: identify your top 20 referring dentists. Call 5 of them and ask which platform they use (OS, tablet, phone).
3. Week 2: on new acquisitions, send both a CD (fallback) and a link (primary). Tell each referrer which link they prefer.
4. Week 3: stop burning CDs unless specifically requested. Track requests; they should be near zero.
5. Week 4: update your website and report templates to include the link URL and viewer instructions.

Objections you'll hear

"Older dentists don't want technology." In practice, a link is less technology than a CD. The older dentist opens an email, clicks a link, sees the scan. No CD tray, no driver prompts, no install.

"What about security?" A link with a random 128-bit token and an access log is more secure than a physical CD that can be lost or copied. Verify your vendor does TLS 1.3, audit logs and time-limited tokens.

"The scanner doesn't support it." The scanner doesn't need to. You export DICOM from the scanner to a folder, then upload that folder to the web viewer. Same post-acquisition step, different destination.

Summary

CDs survive in dentistry because everyone's scanner software was built around them. That's not a reason to keep them. The switch to link-based sharing is a two-week project that saves 40–80 staff-hours monthly, removes delivery delays, and cuts breach exposure.

Start with your top five referring offices. If the link works for them, roll it out to the rest. By the end of the quarter, your CD burner should be a backup, not a workflow.