Panoramic dental x-ray unit
AssigneeCarestream Health, Inc.
InventorsAnna-Sesilia Vlachomitrou, Sylvie Bothorel, Jean-Marc Inglese
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A panoramic dental x-ray unit. The unit includes a support rotating about an axis and carrying, in the opposite position, an x-ray source and detector which move following a predetermined trajectory. The unit further includes means for acquiring images of the dental arch of a patient corresponding to the positions of the detector and of the source with respect to the dental arch. There is also provided means for reconstruction of a two portions of a panoramic image corresponding respectively to two disconnected portions of the dental arch, the reconstruction being performed from certain acquired images which each contain at least one piece of information concerning the two disconnected portions of the dental arch.
Claims18
A panoramic dental x-ray device, comprising:
- a support able to rotate about an axis;
- an x-ray source installed at the support and in front of which is placed a collimation slot so as to produce an elongated X-ray beam;
- an x-ray detector of elongated shape, installed at the support, facing the source and intended to receive the X-rays having traversed a dental arch of a patient placed between the source and the detector;
- means for control of the support movement so that the source and the detector follow a predetermined trajectory;
- means for acquiring a plurality of images of the dental arch of a patient corresponding to a plurality of positions of the detector and of the source with respect to the dental arch;
- and
- means for reconstruction of a panoramic image of at least one portion of the patient's dental arch, from the plurality of images;
- wherein the means for reconstruction of the panoramic image comprises means to reconstruct two portions of the image corresponding respectively to two disconnected portions of the dental arch from at least some of the acquired images, which each contain at least one piece of information concerning the two disconnected portions of the dental arch.
A method for obtaining a panoramic image, comprising:
- providing a panoramic dental x-ray unit, comprising:
- a support able to rotate about an axis;
- an X-ray source installed at one side of a rotary arm and in front of which is placed a collimation slot so as to produce an elongated X-ray beam;
- and
- an x-ray detector of elongated shape, installed at an opposite side of the support, placed towards the source and intended to receive the X-rays having traversed a dental arch of a patient placed between the source and the detector;
- controlling the support movement so that the x-ray source and the detector follow a predetermined trajectory,
- acquiring a plurality of images of the dental arch of a patient corresponding to a plurality of positions of the detector and of the x-ray source with respect to the dental arch;
- reconstructing a panoramic image of at least one portion of the patient's dental arch, from the plurality of images, by reconstructing two portions of the image corresponding respectively to two disconnected portions of the dental arch from at least some of the acquired images, which each contain at least one piece of information concerning both of the two disconnected portions of the dental arch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.