Patent ID: 8503604

Claim:
A dental radiology apparatus comprising: an x-radiation generator and a sensor opposite the x-radiation generator receiving an x-ray beam that has come from the generator, the apparatus being suitable for producing in a first mode of operation a panoramic image of an object by displacement of an assembly formed of the generator and the sensor along a given trajectory in a plane (P), the generator being provided with at least one collimation slit elongated along a Z axis perpendicular to the plane (P) so as to produce an x-ray beam elongated along the Z-axis in the first mode of operation, the sensor with an array of pixels being elongated along the Z-axis in correspondence with said beam; means for displacement of the assembly to displace the assembly formed of the generator and the sensor along the given trajectory in the plane (P), the given trajectory of the assembly resulting from a rotation about an axis of rotation that is perpendicular to the plane (P) and displacement of the axis of rotation in the plane (P); means for pivoting the sensor by 90° in order that the sensor is elongated in a direction parallel to the plane (P); means for switching the generator provided with the at least one collimation slit from the first mode of operation to a second mode of operation so as to produce, in this second mode, an x-ray beam elongated parallel to said direction of the sensor, in order that the sensor arranged in this way is always in correspondence with said beam; means for driving in rotation, about a fixed axis of rotation parallel to the axis (Z), the assembly formed of the generator and the sensor in the second mode of operation and the sensor arranged parallel to the plane (P); means for acquiring several image signals of the object illuminated by an x-ray beam for a plurality of angular positions occupied by the generator-sensor assembly during a rotation movement; means for obtaining a three-dimensional model of the illuminated object from the acquired image signals; and means for identifying, from the three-dimensional model, a trajectory which the generator-sensor assembly will have to follow during a subsequent production of a panoramic image of the object.