Dental x-ray block

A dental x-ray block, comprising:

• a mouthpiece;
• a packet holder, said packet holder being coupled with said mouthpiece and being configured to receive a dental x-ray packet;
• and
• attenuating material, said attenuating material being removably coupled with said packet holder, being configured to attenuate substantially between fifty percent and ninety percent of the energy of an incident x-ray beam, and being configured to be substantially in axial alignment with the dental x-ray packet when the dental x-ray packet is received by said packet holder.

A system for producing x-ray images, comprising:

• a dental x-ray packet;
• a dental x-ray block, said dental x-ray block being configured to receive said dental x-ray packet;
• an x-ray source, said x-ray source being directed substantially toward said dental x-ray packet and being configured to generate a primary x-ray beam;
• and
• attenuating material, said attenuating material being removably coupled with said dental x-ray block and being configured to attenuate the energy of said primary x-ray beam by at least substantially fifty percent, said dental x-ray packet being disposed substantially between said attenuating material and said x-ray source.

A method for producing x-ray images, comprising:

• providing a dental x-ray packet;
• disposing said dental x-ray packet in a dental x-ray block;
• positioning said dental x-ray packet substantially adjacent to an area of interest in a patent's mouth;
• exposing dental x-ray film within said dental x-ray packet to a primary x-ray beam;
• attenuating the energy of said primary x-ray beam via a sheet of lead foil within said dental x-ray packet to form an attenuated primary x-ray beam;
• further attenuating the energy of said attenuated primary x-ray beam by substantially between ninety percent and ninety-nine percent via an attenuation member, being removably coupled with said dental x-ray block, to form a further-attenuated primary x-ray beam such that said further-attenuated primary x-ray beam is inhibited from exposing tissues within the patient's mouth and adjacent to the area of interest, said attenuation member being coupled with said dental x-ray block and being substantially in axial alignment with said dental x-ray film;
• attenuating the energy of backscatter reflections of said further-attenuated primary x-ray beam by substantially between ninety percent and ninety-nine percent via said attenuation member to form attenuated backscatter reflections, said backscatter reflections being formed when said further-attenuated primary x-ray beam reflects from a dense structure in the tissues within the patient's mouth;
• and
• attenuating the energy of said attenuated backscatter reflections via said sheet of lead foil to form further-attenuated backscatter reflections such that said further-attenuated backscatter reflections are inhibited from creating a secondary exposure on said dental x-ray film.

A dental x-ray block, comprising:

• a mouthpiece;
• a packet holder, said packet holder being coupled with said mouthpiece and including a packet retention member and a packet support member, said packet retention member being configured to receive a dental x-ray film packet and being disposed substantially between said mouthpiece and said packet support member;
• and
• an attenuation member, said attenuation member being removably coupled with said packet support member, being configured to attenuate substantially between ninety percent and ninety-nine percent of the energy of an incident x-ray beam, and having a preselected size that is greater than or substantially equal to a size of dental x-ray film within the dental x-ray film packet,
• wherein said attenuation member is configured to eliminate a sheet of lead foil from the dental x-ray film packet and to substantially inhibit unnecessary x-ray exposure and backscattered reflections from creating secondary exposures of the dental x-ray film.

A method for producing x-ray images, comprising:

• disposing a dental x-ray packet in a dental x-ray block;
• positioning said dental x-ray packet substantially adjacent to an area of interest in a patent's mouth;
• exposing said dental x-ray packet to a primary x-ray beam;
• and
• attenuating the energy of said primary x-ray beam by at least substantially fifty percent via attenuation means being removably coupled with said dental x-ray block.