The manufacturers propose different solutions for moving the arm, trying to maintain constant distance between the teeth to the film and generator.

Orthopantomograms (OPTs) are used by health care professionals to provide information on: Normally, the person bites on a plastic spatula so that all the teeth, especially the crowns, can be viewed individually.

While the arm rotates, the film moves in a such way that the projected partial skull image (limited by the beam section) scrolls over it and exposes it entirely.

Also not all the element images move with the same velocity on the target film as some of them are more distant from and others closer to the instant rotation center.

The vertical and horizontal zooms are determined by the relative position of the recorded element versus film and generator.

For example, the more radio-opaque anatomical region, the cervical vertebrae (neck), shows as a wide and blurred vertical pillar overlapping the front teeth.

Persons who are to undergo panoramic radiography usually are required to remove any earrings, jewellery, hair pins, glasses, dentures or orthodontic appliances.

1995 – DXIS, the first dental digital panoramic X-rays system available on the market, created by Catalin Stoichita at Signet (France).

1997 – SIDEXIS, of Siemens (currently Sirona Dental Systems, Germany) offered a digital option for Ortophos Plus panoramic unit, DigiPan of Trophy Radiology (France) offered a digital option for the OP100 panoramic made by Instrumentarium (Finland).

Panoramic radiographs have the capability to demonstrate a portion of the neck and display atheromas (calcifications in the carotid artery) which are an indication of both local and generalized (systemic) atherosclerosis.

[6] There is interest to look at panoramic radiographs as a screening tool, however further data is needed with regards if it is able to make a meaningful difference in outcomes.

[7] Additional research projects have further determined the prevalence rate of these atheromas in the general population (3–5%)[8][9] and among high-risk groups (over 25% in: recent stroke victims,[10] individuals with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome,[11][12][13] postmenopausal women,[14][non-primary source needed] type 2 diabetics,[15][13][16] individuals with dilated cardiomyopathy,[17][13] and among individuals who have received radiotherapy directed at the neck,[18][non-primary source needed][19][non-primary source needed]).

[20][21][22][23][13] Atherosclerosis is attributed to risk factors that include cigarette smoking, hyperlipidemia, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension (high blood pressure).

In 2010, using the previously validated Mattila panoramic radiographic index to quantify the totality of dental infection (i.e., periapical and furcal lesions, pericoronitis sites, carious tooth roots, teeth with pulpal caries, and vertical bony defects), Friedlander's group determined that individuals with carotid artery atheromas on their panoramic radiographs had significantly greater amounts of dental infection/inflammation than atherogenic risk-matched controls devoid of radiographic atheromas.

[25][non-primary source needed][26][non-primary source needed] While the Mattila index had been previously used to relate the extent of dental infection to coronary artery disease, this research is the first to link the full range of dental disease that it measures to panoramic radiographs evidencing calcified carotid artery atherosclerosis.