Patent ID: 8290119
Filing Date: 2012-10-16
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for dental and facial imaging, the apparatus comprising: a rotatable gantry having an axis of rotation generally in the direction of local gravitational vertical, the gantry configured to be rotated during an imaging procedure; a source of penetrating radiation mounted on the gantry; an elongated detector for detecting radiation from the source of penetrating radiation and producing image data, the detector mounted opposite the source on the gantry, and having a length, a long axis, and a short axis; the rotatable gantry, source, and detector configured to receive the head of a patient between the source and the detector when the patient is in an upright position, with the axis of rotation of the gantry passing through the patient's head; wherein the detector is mounted rotatably to the gantry and movable between a first position in which the long axis of the detector is generally perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the gantry and a second position in which the long axis of the detector is generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the gantry; and a computing device configured to receive image data from the detector and further configured to generate an image of at least a first portion of the patient's head if the detector is in the first position and to generate an image of at least a second portion of the patient's head if the detector is in the second position, wherein the second portion of the patient's head is different from the first portion of the patient's head.