Patent Document ID: 7835489
Application ID: 12468541
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for dental tomographic X-ray imaging, the method comprising the steps of: positioning a patient in an X-ray apparatus by a head support that has been used for the acquisition of a panoramic image and that keeps the patient in the same position as for the acquisition of the panoramic image; selecting a region of interest for a local tomographic imaging process based on the panoramic image of the dental arch of the patient at any point of the dental arch; calculating the parameters for a trajectory applicable for the local tomographic imaging process by the control unit based on the selection of the region of interest; performing an imaging process by the X-ray apparatus under the control of a control unit by moving the imaging system along the trajectory; characterized in that the selection of the region of interest includes a selection of the position and orientation of the region of interest in the three-dimensional space, that during the acquisition of projection images for the tomographic imaging process the imaging system is moved along a trajectory that involves translations and rotations of the imaging system, and that a rotational axis of the imaging system performs an extended movement along a transversal plane wherein the rotational axis is shifted by more than +/−60 millimeter.