D0270 — Single Bitewing Radiograph
D0270 is one bitewing image, showing the crowns and contact points of the upper and lower teeth on one side together.
A bitewing is the image dentists use to find the decay they cannot see. Teeth touch each other at their contact points, and those contacts are invisible to the naked eye and unreachable by a probe. A bitewing catches both arches on one side in a single image, aligned so that the contacts are open and any decay between them shows as a dark notch.
D0270 is a single image, which makes it the recall-visit workhorse in limited situations: a patient with few back teeth, a child, or a follow-up on one specific contact the dentist is watching.
What bitewings do and do not show
They show interproximal decay, recurrent decay under the edges of existing fillings, the height of the bone crest between teeth, calculus deposits below the gumline, and open or overhanging restoration margins. They do not show root tips, abscesses, cysts or anything apical — a bitewing simply does not extend that far.
That limitation is the reason a patient with tooth pain usually needs a periapical even if bitewings were taken the same day. The two images answer different questions.
Frequency in practice
Recall bitewings are the most common imaging in dentistry, typically taken once a year for adults with a normal decay risk and every six months for higher-risk patients or children with tight contacts. Plans usually allow one set per twelve months; a patient on a six-month imaging protocol will often pay for the second set.
Where several are needed, the set codes are more economical: D0272 for two, D0273 for three, D0274 for four.
Questions about D0270
What is a bitewing X-ray for?
Finding decay between teeth and under the edges of existing fillings, and checking the level of the bone crest — none of which can be seen by looking.
How often are bitewings needed?
Usually once a year for an adult at average risk, and every six months for higher-risk patients and children with tight contacts.
Why does one bitewing cost less than a set?
Because it is a single image. Four images are reported as D0274, which is priced as a set rather than four singles.
Also known as: bitewing, cavity X-ray, interproximal decay, recall X-ray.