A dental X-ray imaging system (10, 40) comprising: a cone beam X-ray emitter (28, 42) configured to produce a first X-ray beam; a filter disposed to receive the first X-ray beam and output a second X-ray beam comprising a higher-intensity beam portion and a lower-intensity beam portion, the filter comprising at least one filter leaf adapted to attenuate a portion of the first X-ray beam to produce the lower-intensity beam portion, the at least one filter leaf being adjustable to adjust at least one of an intensity of the lower-intensity beam portion and a geometry of the lower-intensity beam portion, the X-ray emitter and filter being arranged to direct the second X-ray beam toward an object; an X-ray receiver (30, 44) positioned to receive unabsorbed X-rays from the second X-ray beam, wherein the filter is disposed between the X-ray emitter and the X-ray receiver, the X-ray receiver configured to produce a plurality of projection images of the object from the received unabsorbed X-rays, each of the plurality of projection images comprising a first region generated from the lower-intensity beam portion and a second limited field of view region generated from the higher-intensity beam portion; and a processor in communication with the X-ray receiver, the processor adapted to execute computer readable code stored upon a computer readable medium, and upon execution of the computer readable code, to perform the steps of: receiving the plurality of projection images from the X-ray receiver, and reconstructing a first three-dimensional image based upon the plurality of projection images using the projection image data acquired in both the limited field of view and attenuated portions of the X-ray beam; characterized by identifying at least one artifact-causing object in the reconstructed first three-dimensional image outside of the limited field of view, determining at least one corrective parameter to eliminate the non-uniform distributions of density produced by the artifact, and reconstructing a second three dimensional image using the limited field of view regions of the projection images and using the at least one corrective parameter. a cone beam X-ray emitter (28, 42) configured to produce a first X-ray beam; a filter disposed to receive the first X-ray beam and output a second X-ray beam comprising a higher-intensity beam portion and a lower-intensity beam portion, the filter comprising at least one filter leaf adapted to attenuate a portion of the first X-ray beam to produce the lower-intensity beam portion, the at least one filter leaf being adjustable to adjust at least one of an intensity of the lower-intensity beam portion and a geometry of the lower-intensity beam portion, the X-ray emitter and filter being arranged to direct the second X-ray beam toward an object; an X-ray receiver (30, 44) positioned to receive unabsorbed X-rays from the second X-ray beam, wherein the filter is disposed between the X-ray emitter and the X-ray receiver, the X-ray receiver configured to produce a plurality of projection images of the object from the received unabsorbed X-rays, each of the plurality of projection images comprising a first region generated from the lower-intensity beam portion and a second limited field of view region generated from the higher-intensity beam portion; and a processor in communication with the X-ray receiver, the processor adapted to execute computer readable code stored upon a computer readable medium, and upon execution of the computer readable code, to perform the steps of: receiving the plurality of projection images from the X-ray receiver, and reconstructing a first three-dimensional image based upon the plurality of projection images using the projection image data acquired in both the limited field of view and attenuated portions of the X-ray beam; characterized by identifying at least one artifact-causing object in the reconstructed first three-dimensional image outside of the limited field of view, determining at least one corrective parameter to eliminate the non-uniform distributions of density produced by the artifact, and reconstructing a second three dimensional image using the limited field of view regions of the projection images and using the at least one corrective parameter. receiving the plurality of projection images from the X-ray receiver, and reconstructing a first three-dimensional image based upon the plurality of projection images using the projection image data acquired in both the limited field of view and attenuated portions of the X-ray beam; characterized by identifying at least one artifact-causing object in the reconstructed first three-dimensional image outside of the limited field of view, determining at least one corrective parameter to eliminate the non-uniform distributions of density produced by the artifact, and reconstructing a second three dimensional image using the limited field of view regions of the projection images and using the at least one corrective parameter.