The Dental CBCT: Why You Need More Than a Standard X-Ray Dental Cone Beam Tomography Scans and Why you Benefit from a Current X-Ray You had an x-ray at the dentist office years ago. However, you need a current dental x-ray. You still remember seeing the strange contrast of your teeth against the black background. But the last time you had a dental check-up, your dentist recommended having a cone beam CT scan (CBCT).