I agree, for some reason dentistry and orthodontics seem far more technologically advanced than the rest of medicine. In addition to handheld x-rays like you mentioned, I’ve seen dentists/orthodontists use 3D printers, 3D scanners (e.x. iTero Element) and modern composites. Small sample size, but all the orthodontists and dentists’ offices I’ve been in are clearly embracing new technology as much as they can, while every doctor’s office I’ve been in has seemed like it could be a hundred years old. I wonder why that is.

The cynic in me suspects it's because insurance companies and employer-provided insurance hasn't completely mucked up the market the way it has with healthcare. Sometimes I wonder if America's "best" (least resistant) path to single-payer healthcare is to start smaller scale with universal coverage for vision & dentistry and then slowly expand coverage from there.

That’s not exactly the industries fault though. For example, in the US, you have to get a mammogram BY LAW. It doesn’t even matter that there are better and more reliable methods to detect breast cancer, the law said it MUST be a mammogram. https://www.factcheck.org/2013/10/aca-doesnt-restrict-mammog....

Anyway, then you have companies like Theranos who come along and prove why it’s a good idea to be risk adverse. Snake oil has been sold for a long time, and it really isn’t until “recently” that it has been illegal to sell it (since a bit after 1906, in the US).

Is this an American thing?

In Australia all imaging is stored on the cloud somewhere. For a reason unknown to me, you still get the huge envelope. But inside is just a piece of paper with some public id and a QRcode. You don’t really need these. The doctor who ordered the imaging will automatically get forwarded the results. If you are refereed to a specialist, they will get it to.