Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03C—PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR, STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY
  • G03C3/00—Packages of films for inserting into cameras, e.g. roll-films, film-packs; Wrapping materials for light-sensitive plates, films or papers, e.g. materials characterised by the use of special dyes, printing inks, adhesives
  • G03C3/003—Individual packages for X-ray film, e.g. for dental applications
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03B—APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FOR PROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
  • G03B42/00—Obtaining records using waves other than optical waves; Visualisation of such records by using optical means
  • G03B42/02—Obtaining records using waves other than optical waves; Visualisation of such records by using optical means using X-rays
  • G03B42/04—Holders for X-ray films
  • G03B42/042—Holders for X-ray films for dental applications
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S430/00—Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product thereof
  • Y10S430/167—X-ray
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S430/00—Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product thereof
  • Y10S430/167—X-ray
  • Y10S430/168—X-ray exposure process

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an image plate for intra-oral dental X-ray photography, the plate being placed in a shield i which the plate is kept during photography and out of which th plate can be taken for the reading out of the image after photography.
• X- ray film which is in a foil package during photography has conven ⁇ tionally been used in intra-oral dental X-ray photography.
• X- ray film is photosensitive, for which reason the opening of th package after photography and the transfer of the film to de ⁇ velopment have taken place in a darkroom.
• cassette for intra-oral dental X-ray photography which contains an image plate sensitive to X-rays
• the functioning of the selenium-containing image plate is base on the adherence of pigment to the plate surface.
• the disad ⁇ vantage of the system is that holding the thick and rigid cas ⁇ sette in the mouth is cumbersome.
• the object of the present invention is to provide an image plate particularly suited for intra-oral dental photography, avoiding the above-mentioned disadvantages of prior-art sys ⁇ tems.
• the invention in which the image plate is placed in a shield in a manner known per se, is characterized in that the shield has been made pervious to X-rays but impervious to visible light, and that the shield comprises a closed shieldin bag of plastic membrane.
• the image plate according to the invention with its bag-like plastic shield, can be made substantially thinner than the prior-known cassette which contains an image plate, and conse ⁇ quently its use is more comfortable for the patient.
• the advantage of the invention is that the image plate is less sensitive to external light than is film.
• the bag-like shield impervious to light thus consti ⁇ tutes a sufficient shield for the image plate between photog ⁇ raphy and the reading out of the plate, and the darkroom re ⁇ quired by films is not needed for the handling of the plate.
• the shield is made up of an inner bag impervious to light and a closed outer bag of plastic membrane, enveloping the inner bag.
• the outer bag may be of a transparent plastic material, and its sealing and opening should be maximally easy.
• the purpose of the outer bag is to prevent the patient's saliva from ending up in the read-out apparatus along with the inner bag and to pro ⁇ tect the patient from any pathogens which may have ended up on the surface of the image plate.
• the inner bag impervious to light may be of black plastic membrane, or alternatively of black cardboard, and it may be left open at one end.
• the said inner bag impervious to light is preferably at one end open and at the other end equipped with J ⁇ pulling lug by which the bag can be pulled from around the image plate.
• the image plate end at the open end of the bag may further be equipped with a metal part which can be held by a magnet belonging to the pulling device used in the reading out of the image.
• the image plate can in this case be introduced with its bag into the read-out apparatus without the plate being exposed to out ⁇ side light at any stage before the apparatus. The pulling off of the bag will not take place until the pulling device has gripped the end of the plate which is protected from light in the read-out apparatus.
• the shield comprises only one bag, which is made of a plastic membrane impervious to light and is closed during photography. After photography the bag is opened at one end, whereafter the image plate can be taken out, for example by means of a magnet adhering to the metal part at the end of the plate in accordance with what has been stated above
• the invention also relates to a method by which the image plate, after photography, is taken out of the shield for the reading out of the image.
• the shield which is pervious to X-rays but impervious to visible light and comprises a closed shielding bag made of plastic membrane, is opened, that the image plate is intro ⁇ quizd, in a bag which constitutes part of the shield, is imper vious to light and is open at one end, into a space shielded from light in the read-out apparatus, where a gripping member will grip that end of the image plate which is at the open end of the bag, and that the bag is thereafter pulled by its op ⁇ posite end so that it comes off from around the image plate.
• the image plate with its bag can be introduced into the read-out apparatus so that the said pulling lug will at least in part be left outside the feed-in aperture of the apparatus, whereupon the bag will be easy to pull out of the read-out apparatus through the aperture.
• Figure 1 depicts the inserting of the image plate into an inne shielding bag of plastic membrane
• Figure 2 depicts the image plate in the inner shielding bag
• Figure 3 depicts the inner shielding bag enclosed in an outer shielding bag of plastic membrane
• Figure 4 depicts the removing of the outer shielding bag ac ⁇ cording Figure 3 from around the inner shielding bag
• Figure 5 depicts the inner shielding bag and the image plate inside it, introduced into the read-out apparatus
• Figure 6 depicts the pulling off of the inner shielding bag from around the image plate adhering to a pulling device be ⁇ longing to the read-out apparatus.
• Figure 1 shows an image plate 1 for intra-oral dental X-ray photography according to the RIM technique, the plate being made up of a substantially rigid layered plastic plate approx. 1 mm thick, with stimulable phosphor on its surface. Each end of the image plate 1 is equipped with a steel part 2.
• FIG. 1 the image plate 1 is being pushed into the inner shielding bag 3, in which the plate will be during photography.
• the said bag 3 is made up of two opposite membranes of a plas ⁇ tic material which is pervious to X-rays-but impervious to visible light, the membranes being sealed to each " other along sealing lines 4, 5.
• One end 6 of the bag 3 has been left open, and a pulling lug 7 has been formed at the opposite end of the bag.
• the membrane material of the bag 3 may be colored black, or alternatively the membranes have been made non-transparent by means of a thin metal foil.
• the image plate 1 is located inside the inner shielding bag 3, so that the steel part 2 at the end of the plate is substantially at the open end 6 of the bag.
• the pulling lug 7 has been folded against the rest of the bag and the image plate 1 inside the bag along the sealing line 5 running across the bag 3.
• FIG 3 the inner shielding bag 3 according to Figure 2, together with the image plate and the folded pulling lug 7, i closed along its edges in an outer shielding bag 8 made of heat-sealed plastic membrane.
• the outer bag 8 serves as a shield for the inner shielding bag 3 during photo raphy and, furthermore, it can be washed before being intro ⁇ quizd into the mouth of a patient.
• the outer bag 8 When photography has been carried out, the outer bag 8 is fir removed from around the inner bag 3 and the image plate insid it by tearing in accordance with Figure 4. The patient*s sali is removed along with the bag 8 and is thus prevented from ending up in the read-out apparatus.
• FIG. 5 shows a bag 3 with th image plate, pushed through the feed-in aperture 10 into a space protected from light in the read-out apparatus, the ste part at the end of the plate in the bag adhering to the magne 12 in the pulling device 11 provided in the space.
• the pullin lug 7 of the bag 3 remains, in accordance with Figure 5, out ⁇ side the feed-in aperture 10 of the read-out apparatus, in which case it can be pulled, in accordance with Figure 6, through the aperture from around the image plate 1, while the image plate remains in the read-out apparatus.
• the reading out of the image on the image plate 1 is carried out in the read-out apparatus 9 by means of a scanner and a reciprocating pulling device 11, in a manner known per se. Th read-out apparatus may also erase information from the plate that the plate is thereafter ready for a subsequent round of use.
• the pulling device 11 pushes the free end of the image plate 1 out through the feed-in aperture 10. Thereafter the said end of the plate may be gripped by hand, and the plate can be pulled off the magnets 12 of the pulling device 11 and be inserted, with the end detached from the magnets first, into a shielding bag 3.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (AREA)
• Apparatus For Radiation Diagnosis (AREA)

Priority Applications (4)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8534853

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (3)

Families Citing this family (18)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (5)

• 1992
  • 1992-03-02 FI FI920937A patent/FI92633C/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1993
  • 1993-03-01 WO PCT/FI1993/000072 patent/WO1993018435A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1993-03-01 DE DE69328907T patent/DE69328907T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1993-03-01 EP EP93904068A patent/EP0705453B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1993-03-01 US US08/295,808 patent/US5466561A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1993-03-01 JP JP51535893A patent/JP3162074B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (5)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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