Panoramic radiograph

Panoramic radiograph
Medical diagnostics
A dental panoramic radiograph, showing the maxilla and mandible, all the teeth including the "wisdom teeth," the frontal and maxillary sinuses, the nasal cavity and the temporomandibular joint and other near by head and neck anatomy.
MeSH	D011862
[]

A panoramic radiograph is a panoramic scanning dental X-ray of the upper and lower jaw. It shows a two-dimensional view of a half-circle from ear to ear. Panoramic radiography is a form of tomography; thus, images of multiple planes are taken to make up the composite panoramic image, where the maxilla and mandible are in the focal trough and the structures that are superficial and deep to the trough are blurred.

Other nonproprietary names for a panoramic radiograph are dental panoramic radiograph and pantomogram; trade names are Panorex and Orthopantomograph (genericized versions of the latter, such as orthopantomography or orthopantomogram, are best avoided in favor of the other nonproprietary names). Abbreviations include PAN, DPR, OPT, and OPG (the latter, based on genericizing a trade name, are often avoided in medical editing).

Dental panoramic radiography equipment consists of a horizontal rotating arm which holds an X-ray source and a moving film mechanism (carrying a film) arranged at opposed extremities. The patient's skull sits between the X-ray generator and the film. The X-ray source is collimated toward the film, to give a beam shaped as a vertical blade having a width of 4-7mm when arriving on the film, after crossing the patient's skull. Also the height of that beam covers the mandibles and the maxilla regions. The arm moves and its movement may be described as a rotation around an instant center which shifts on a dedicated trajectory.