Visual indicator for the assessment of the tilt of the Frankfort plane in extra oral dental imaging devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11045157-B2
Application number	US-201415532213-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2014
Priority date	Dec 4, 2014
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

A patient positioning apparatus for an extra-oral imaging system that includes a support base adjustable in at least one dimension and a cephalometric module coupled to the support base and configured to position a cephalometric imaging sensor about an imaging area formed with an x-ray source, where x-rays from the x-ray source impinge the cephalometric sensor after radiating the imaging area. A patient positioning unit is positioned operatively near the imaging area, and a retractable Frankfort plane positioning indicator and methods for using the same are provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An extra-oral imaging system, the extra-oral imaging system comprising:
a support base adjustable in at least one dimension;
a cephalometric module coupled to the support base and configured to position a cephalometric imaging sensor about a first imaging area formed with an x-ray source, where x-rays from the x-ray source impinge the cephalometric imaging sensor after radiating the first imaging area, the cephalometric module including a cephalometric imaging collimator;
a cephalometric patient positioning unit positioned operatively near the first imaging area; and
a retractable cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator mounted to the cephalometric imaging collimator.

2. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit is between the cephalometric imaging collimator and the cephalometric sensor, and where the retractable cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is configured to reciprocally move between a first position closer to the first imaging area and a second retracted position that is spaced further away from the first imaging area.

3. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit is between the cephalometric imaging collimator and the cephalometric sensor, and where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is configured to reciprocally move between a first position where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is used to properly position a patient for cephalometric imaging and a retracted second position that is outside an x-ray beam path that impinges the cephalometric imaging sensor.

4. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit comprises:
a head support coupled to the cephalometric patient positioning unit; and
a positioning unit coupled to the cephalometric patient positioning unit, where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is rotatably mounted to the cephalometric imaging collimator or formed with a distal end longitudinally spaced from a mounted end, where the distal end is closer to the first imaging area.

5. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises a partially transparent plate and at least one horizontal indicator.

6. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit is between the cephalometric imaging collimator and the cephalometric imaging sensor, and where the cephalometric patient positioning unit comprises:
a forehead support, the forehead support being adjustable in at least two dimensions; and
where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises a partially transparent plate and at least one horizontal indicator, where the at least one horizontal indicator is aligned with the forehead support that indicates a bottom of the eye-ball socket and is aligned with at least one ear rod in the first imaging area.

7. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit comprises at least one temporal holding member, where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises a partially transparent plate and at least one planar indicator, and where the at least one planar indicator can visually correspond to the at least one temporal holding member in the first imaging area.

8. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is configured to be mounted to one or both sides of the cephalometric imaging collimator.

9. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit comprises at least one temporal holding member, and where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator includes a thin shaft mounted in a first position to visually correspond to a temporal holding member in the first imaging area, where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is movably mounted to move into a position within a peripheral contour of the cephalometric imaging collimator or a portion of the cephalometric module.

10. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises an elongated substantially transparent member with a mounting end and a distal end spaced from the mounting end, where the distal end comprises an alignment indicator, where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is mounted to reciprocally move between a first position where the alignment indicator proximate to the distal end visually corresponds to a temporal holding member and a second position where the alignment indicator is spaced apart and does not visually correspond to the temporal holding member.

11. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit is configured to position a patient in the first imaging area at a prescribed position where a Frankfort plane is not horizontal, and the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is configured to indicate the prescribed position.

12. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric patient positioning unit is configured to repeatably and accurately position a patient between the x-ray source and the cephalometric imaging sensor.

13. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises a first Frankfort plane positioning indicator, and where the extra-oral imaging system further comprises:
a mount mounted to the support base and configured to revolve the x-ray source and an imaging sensor separate from the cephalometric imaging sensor about a second imaging area so that x-rays impinge the imaging sensor after radiating the second imaging area; and
a second patient positioning unit coupled to the extra-oral imaging system and positioned operatively near the second imaging area, comprising:
an elongated shield comprising handles;
a chin support coupled to the elongated shield and comprising a chin positioning element; and
a head support coupled to the elongated shield; and
a second Frankfort plane positioning indicator.

14. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator comprises at least one alignment indicator, where the alignment indicator comprises an elongated indicator, a solid line, a discontinuous indicator, a plurality of regularly spaced marks indicating a line, a plurality of irregularly spaced marks indicating a line, a partially transparent indicator, or a combination thereof.

15. The extra-oral imaging system of claim 1 , where the cephalometric Frankfort plane positioning indicator is detachable and configured to mount to a plurality of positions having a prescribed spatial relationship to the first imaging area.

Assignees

• Trophy

Inventors

• Lecuyer Yann
• Martino Olivier

Classifications

• A61B6/0428

  Patient cradles · CPC title

• A61B6/032

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B6/0492

  using markers or indicia for aiding patient positioning · CPC title

• A61B6/14 Primary

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B6/51 Primary

  for dentistry · CPC title