Similar to Medicine, digital communication, information processing, and x-ray imaging have changed the face of dentistry. The incorporation of digital systems into medical and dental practice has necessitated development of a standard that allows reliable transmission of information between the devices taking the images, devices storing the images, and devices displaying the images. This standard is termed as DICOM. The following article briefly reviews how DICOM came about, how dentistry is

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... olved, the various elements that are part of the DICOM system, and how DICOM is currently used in dentistry. It is instructive to briefly review the history of the development of digital standards. Since 1985, when the first itera-