Ask any dental assistant what goes wrong with a sensor. The answer is almost always the cable.
It gets bent during positioning, pulled between patients, pinched under the chair and wiped down dozens of times a day. Most practices treat it as a consumable. They budget for the next replacement, keep a backup in a drawer and accept that an operatory will go dark at some point in a full schedule.
Much of the industry has spent years trying to build a better cable: thicker jackets, reinforced strain relief, faster replacement programs.
We took a different position.
The best dental sensor cable is the one that isn’t there.
What the Cable Really Costs a Practice
Sensor cables rarely fail all at once. They fail intermittently first: dropped connections, captures that cut out mid-exposure, a sensor that works in Room 2 but not Room 4. Then they fail completely.
The replacement is only part of the cost. On a legacy wired sensor, a broken cable can mean a replacement in the $5,000 to $6,000 range, and that is before the lost chair time, the rescheduled patients and the team moving between rooms to keep the day on track.
We broke down the downtime side of this in Wireless Intraoral Sensor: Stop Replacing Cables, Cut Downtime, Keep Accuracy. The short version: the cable is the most failure-prone component on a wired sensor, and careful handling does not change the physics of repeated bending.
Placement Should Follow Anatomy, Not a Cable
Every patient presents a different positioning challenge. Some have a strong gag reflex. Others have limited opening, smaller anatomy or tori. Those are the moments when the clinical team needs the most flexibility, and when a cable adds weight and directional pull that make placement harder than it needs to be.
DC-Air® True Wireless® removes that restriction. With nothing dictating direction, the clinician has 360 degrees of placement freedom, and the sensor goes where the anatomy and the required image call for it.
The Zero Profile® holders attach directly to the back of the sensor, adding no unnecessary bulk. Fewer things in the mouth and nothing trailing out of it makes for a calmer patient, and patient comfort is a diagnostic advantage when it means fewer retakes.
Inside the operatory, the workflow gets simpler:
- No cord routed across the patient or draped near the chair
- No pull against the sensor during capture
- Less equipment clutter at the chair
- One sensor that moves easily between operatories
Wireless Without Compromise on Image Accuracy
Removing the cable only matters if the image holds up.
DC-Air® uses single-crystal silicon direct conversion. X-ray photons convert directly to charge, with no scintillator layer converting them to light first. That design is the basis for Image Accuracy (IA), the standard FTG holds DC-Air® to.
Image quality describes how an image looks in a demo. IA describes how faithfully the image reproduces what the X-ray actually captured. A sharpened, high-contrast image can look better and still be less accurate. Clinicians make decisions on accuracy.
DC-Air® also integrates with leading dental imaging software, so the practice changes the sensor, not the workflow built around it.
Five Years and Four Generations Without a Cord
DC-Air® launched in 2021 as a True Wireless® intraoral sensor and is now in its fourth generation. Every generation has kept the same promise: nothing tethering the sensor to the workstation. Five-Plus Years. Four Generations. Still No Cord. covers what has improved along the way, from housing and docking to faster image transmission.
The point for a practice still running wired sensors is simple. Cord-free imaging is not new or experimental. It is proven in daily clinical use.
A Complete System, Not a Sensor With the Cable Cut Off
Going wireless takes more than removing a cord. The DC-Air® sensor works with its docking station and Zero Profile® holder system to support charging, protection between patients and repeatable positioning throughout the day.
The complete sensor kit includes:
- One DC-Air® True Wireless® intraoral sensor
- One DC-Air® docking station
- The Zero Profile® holder system for anterior, posterior, bitewing and endodontic positioning
No Cord. No Worries.
Removing the cable eliminates the most common failure point on an intraoral sensor. The DC-Air® No Cord. No Worries. All-Inclusive Sensor Plan covers the rest.
The complete DC-Air® sensor kit is $5,495, a $1,500 savings, with enrollment in the All-Inclusive Sensor Plan at $99 per month per sensor on a 24-month commitment. For the next two years, FTG takes care of the sensor with:
- Technical support
- Maintenance and recalibration
- A loaner sensor when needed
- Accidental loss and damage protection
- WatchDog™ monitoring for sensor location, status and utilization
A wired sensor leaves the practice managing a cable and budgeting for the next one. DC-Air® removes the cable and puts the sensor under one plan with a predictable monthly cost.
The Best Sensor Cable Is No Sensor Cable
No cable to manage. No cable restricting placement. No cable waiting to fail.
You take the X-rays. We take care of the sensor.
Ready to Cut the Cord?
See DC-Air® True Wireless® in action and learn what is included in the complete sensor kit and the All-Inclusive Sensor Plan.
Call (855) 664-1953 or email info@ftgimaging.com.
24-month Plan commitment required. First covered claim per sensor per calendar year: $850 deductible; second and third covered claims: $2,999 each. Maximum three covered claims per sensor per calendar year. Coverage is subject to the complete DC-Air® No Cord. No Worries. All-Inclusive Sensor Plan terms and conditions.