CDT D0220: Intraoral Periapical First Radiographic Image
Headline: CDT code D0220: Single Intraoral Periapical Radiograph for Diagnostic Assessment
Lead: CDT code D0220 designates the first intraoral periapical radiographic image used to evaluate a targeted tooth and its surrounding structures. This foundational diagnostic service supports clinical decision-making in restorative, endodontic, and emergency dental care across outpatient dental offices.
What the code represents and why it matters: CDT code D0220 documents a single periapical radiograph taken to assess tooth apexes and adjacent bone. Nationally, accurate reporting of this code is important for clinical records, care coordination, and payer adjudication for routine and problem-focused dental evaluations.
Key payers covered: Major national commercial payers included in this profile are Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, and UnitedHealthcare.
Overview of what readers will learn: Readers will find a concise explanation of the clinical use and billing context for CDT code D0220, its place within dental diagnostic imaging, typical site of service, and relationships to related intraoral imaging codes. The publication also summarizes common billing considerations and documentation elements relevant to periapical imaging. Where input data is missing, the report notes "Data not available in the input."
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Billing Code Overview
CDT code D0220 represents an intraoral periapical radiographic image of the first tooth or region captured. This procedure is a standard component of dental diagnostic imaging used to evaluate the apex and surrounding structures of a specific tooth. The service is typically performed in an office setting (POS 11) and produces a single periapical image intended to identify pathology such as periapical lesions, root morphology, and localized dental conditions.
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
National mean rates show that Medicare is materially lower than BUCA (average commercial) mean rates for CDT code D0220. BUCA (average commercial) reports a mean of $13.98 compared with Medicare at $0.00 in the provided input, indicating Medicare mean is not present in the authoritative data and is effectively lower than the commercial average.
Rate dispersion, measured as the difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles, varies across payers. Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare have wider dispersion (approximately $8.00 and $4.08 respectively), while Cigna Health and Aetna are tighter (approximately $2.00 and $4.50 respectively). The full percentile breakdown and mean rates are presented in the table and chart below.