At SmileIT, our mission is to always provide clients with our best service and advice. And occasionally, in unique situations, we’re tasked with going above and beyond the call of duty.
E&M Dental has been a loyal and valued client since we helped build their first office in 2011—and again their second location in 2015—so our entire team knows their practice and technologies inside and out. That deep relationship paid off in a very big way.
THE PROBLEM
The practice’s 10-year-old CBCT X-ray machine stopped working. 
For a practice that depends on this type of technology to perform
high-value implant placement appointments, production at the
location essentially came to a halt.
REMOTE REPAIR EFFORTS
Our trained dental IT help desk technicians—working closely with the manufacturer’s technical support team—exhausted all options and quickly determined the issue was caused by a component inside the CBCT unit.
ESCALATION
The practice manager contacted her SmileIT Account Manager for guidance and escalation. It quickly became clear that a dental equipment dealer would need to perform the repair.
A SEARCH FOR CONVENTIONAL SOLUTIONS
The practice manager reached out to multiple national and independent dental dealers but because of the age of the unit, the best options presented were either:
– a replacement touch panel quoted at $18,000 (if they can locate the part), or – replacing the entire CBCT unit with a newer, larger field-of-view model for $84,000.
REDDIT TO THE RESCUE
With no promising leads, the practice manager again contacted her SmileIT Account Manager hoping for a “miracle solution.” This reactivated both our Account and Tech Teams to collaborate—and their efforts paid off.
A Reddit search discovered a post from a user halfway around the globe describing an identical problem and the fix that solved their problem!.
ARMED WITH INFORMATION
After reviewing the situation with the practice owners, everyone agreed that SmileIT—despite having no prior experience with this specific repair—would attempt the repair using the Reddit post and the manufacturer’s documentation as a guide.
WORKING THROUGH THE PROCESS 
One of our senior field service technicians methodically disassembled the unit, taking photos at every step of his progress.
THE CULPRIT 
Inside the CBCT unit’s touch panel was
a dead CMOS battery. When the
battery failed, it wiped the CBCT unit’s
basic configuration data, preventing it
from powering on or booting properly.
TOUCHDOWN!
After installing a new $4 CR-2025 battery, reassembling the unit, and completing a brief call with the manufacturer’s tech support team, the CBCT machine powered on and was fully operational.
A HAPPY CLIENT
With the CBCT unit back in service, our Account Manager was able to revisit a proactive conversation about the impact of Windows 10 End-of-Life—something that wouldn’t have been possible if the practice had been forced to replace the entire CBCT unit.
