Systems, devices, and methods for lowering dental x-ray dosage including feedback sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9408581-B2
Application number	US-201414201427-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2014
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods are described for providing, among other things, an intra-oral x-ray imaging system configured to reduce patient exposure to x-rays, reduce amount of scatter, transmission, or re-radiation during imaging, or improve x-ray image quality. In an embodiment, an intra-oral x-ray imaging system includes an intra-oral x-ray sensor configured to communicate intra-oral x-ray sensor position information or intra-oral x-ray sensor orientation information to a remote x-ray source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An intra-oral x-ray sensor, comprising:
an x-ray image component configured to acquire intra-oral x-ray image information associated with a patient; and
an intra-oral radiation shield structure configured to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%, wherein a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure is flexible or jointed so as to conform to a portion of an oral cavity.

2. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure includes one or more high atomic number (high-Z) materials in an amount sufficient to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%.

3. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure includes one or more materials having a K-edge greater than 15 kiloelectron volts in an amount sufficient to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%.

4. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure includes one or more materials having an L-edge greater than 10 kiloelectron volts in an amount sufficient to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%.

5. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure includes a laminate structure having at least a first layer and a second layer, the second layer having an x-ray attenuation profile different from the first layer.

6. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure is mounted behind an x-ray image detector on the intra-oral x-ray sensor.

7. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure is formed from at least one x-ray attenuating material, x-ray radio-opaque material, or x-ray attenuating ceramic material.

8. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure is removably attachable.

9. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure is composed of at least a first x-ray shielding material and a second x-ray shielding material, the second x-ray shielding material having one or more absorption edges different from the first x-ray shielding material.

10. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first x-ray shielding material or the second x-ray shielding material includes at least one material that absorbs x-rays at one or more frequencies and fluoresces x-rays at one or more lower frequencies.

11. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 9 , wherein at least a portion of the second x-ray shielding material is interlayered with at least a portion of the first x-ray shielding material.

12. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 9 , wherein the second x-ray shielding material includes one or more K-edges, or one or more L-edges, different from the first x-ray shielding material.

13. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 9 , wherein the second x-ray shielding material includes an x-ray mass attenuation coefficient different from the first x-ray shielding material.

14. An intra-oral x-ray sensor, comprising:
an x-ray image component configured to acquire intra-oral x-ray image information associated with a patient; and
an intra-oral radiation shield structure configured to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%, wherein the intra-oral radiation shield structure includes a composition having a carrier fluid and a plurality of x-ray shielding particles each having at least a first x-ray shielding agent and a second x-ray shielding agent, the second x-ray shielding agent having one or more absorption edges different from the first x-ray shielding agent.

15. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure has an x-ray shielding lead equivalence of about 0.25 millimeters to about 0.5 millimeters.

16. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the intra-oral radiation shield structure extends outwardly beyond a terminal border of an x-ray image detector forming part of the intra-oral x-ray sensor.

17. An intra-oral x-ray sensor, comprising:
an x-ray image component configured to acquire intra-oral x-ray image information associated with a patient;
an intra-oral radiation shield structure configured to reduce at least one of x-ray scattering, transmission, or re-radiation by at least 50%; and
an x-ray backscatter component operably coupled to the x-ray image component;
wherein the x-ray image component is configured to detect backscattering, and the x-ray backscatter component is configured to modify the intra-oral x-ray image information responsive to one or more inputs from the x-ray image component indicative of the presence of backscatter.

18. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
an embedded orientation detection component configured to generate information associated with at least one of an intra-oral x-ray sensor orientation, an intra-oral x-ray sensor position, an intra-oral x-ray sensor dimension, or an intra-oral x-ray sensor centroid position.

19. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to one or more orientation sensors.

20. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to one or more local positioning system based sensors.

21. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to at least two acceleration sensors in a substantially perpendicularly arrangement.

22. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to at least one electrolytic fluid based sensor.

23. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to a two-axis tilt sensor configured to detect an intra-oral x-ray sensor pitch angle and an intra-oral x-ray sensor roll angle.

24. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 18 , wherein the embedded orientation detection component is operably coupled to one or more acoustic transducers.

25. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the x-ray image component is operably coupled to one or more charge-coupled devices.

26. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , wherein the x-ray image component is operably coupled to one or more complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor sensors.

27. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more active optic devices configured to generate an output indicative of an intra-oral x-ray sensor border position.

28. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more passive optics devices configured to indicate an intra-oral x-ray sensor border position.

29. The intra-oral x-ray sensor of claim 1 , further comprising:
a beacon component configured to convey information associated with at least one of a sensor position or a sensor orientation.

30. The intra-oral x-ray sensor o

Assignees

• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Hyde Roderick A
• Jung Edward K Y
• Kare Jordin T
• Pan Tony S
• Whitmer Charles
• Wood Jr Lowell L

Classifications

• H10F39/804

  Containers or encapsulations · CPC title

• H10F39/189

  X-ray, gamma-ray or corpuscular radiation imagers · CPC title

• H10F39/8057

  Optical shielding · CPC title

• H10F39/1515

  Optical shielding · CPC title

• H10F39/80

  Constructional details of image sensors · CPC title