Dental radiology apparatus and associated method of use

Method for producing a panoramic image of a patient's jaw from a dental radiology apparatus comprising:

• a generator (18) provided with a window (18b) emitting X-radiation and a collimation device positioned in front of said window in order to collimate the radiation in a suitable manner using several forms of collimation slits,
• at least one sensor (20a, 20b) comprising a first image acquisition surface elongated along a Z-axis perpendicular to a plane P and being used in a first position of the apparatus to produce a panoramic image of a jaw placed between the generator and the first image acquisition surface, the panoramic image being produced from the X-radiation collimated by a first form of collimation slit (22a) elongated along the Z-axis and received by the first sensor image acquisition surface and by displacement of the generator and of said first surface along a given trajectory in the plane P combined with a rotation about an axis parallel to the Z-axis, the said at least one sensor comprising a second image acquisition surface used in cone beam tomographic mode, in a second position of the apparatus, to produce a three-dimensional model of only a part of the jaw from the X-radiation collimated by a second form of collimation slit (22b) and received by the second image acquisition surface and by displacement of the generator and of said second surface in rotation about an axis parallel to the Z-axis, the second form of collimation slit having dimensions matched to those of the second image acquisition surface, characterized in that the method comprises, in a third position of use of the apparatus in cone beam tomographic mode, the following preliminary steps in order to obtain a trajectory which will be travelled in the plane P, by the assembly comprising generator and first image acquisition surface, in the first position of use of the apparatus for the production of a panoramic image of the jaw:
• positioning (S1 ), in front of the window emitting X-radiation, of a third form of collimation slit (22c) elongated in a direction parallel to the plane P and the longitudinal dimension of which in this direction is matched to the dimension of the second image acquisition surface in this same direction,
• positioning (S2), opposite the third form of collimation slit oriented in this way, of a third image acquisition surface corresponding to a part of the second surface along the Z-axis, for the purpose of cooperation of the third form of slit and the third surface.