3rd Party Intraoral Sensors – Apteryx

Most intraoral sensors that our software interacts with do not have specific articles dedicated to them, either because they are simply a rebrand of another sensor that already has articles specifically about them (e.g. Dexis and Gendex), or there has not been enough call for an article to be made as of yet. This page has been tagged with many brands of sensors that do not currently have articles dedicated to them specifically, but should hopefully provide some basic tools to help with any issues being experienced.

Installing/Integrating Sensor(s)

Depending on the Imaging Software being used, please reference one of the following software-specific guides:

Drivers / Calibration Files

All 3rd party sensor drivers and calibration files are to be provided and maintained by the sensor manufacturer. If these are needed, please reach out to the respective hardware manufacturer and have them supply the necessary files and/or programs.

Planet DDS / Apteryx Imaging Support will not, nor is able to, provide any 3rd party sensor drivers or calibration files.

Connection Issues

Any issue with sensors not being recognized, auto-capturing, or not responding to exposure can be tough to diagnose without any troubleshooting by a technician, however some common recommendations are listed below which may resolve some problems being experienced.

Under the vast majority of circumstances, our recommendation will always be for the sensor to be directly connected to the computer tower's USB port whenever possible (preferably the rear USB ports). This provides the most stable and reliable connection between the sensor and the PC, as well as (usually) the most stable power supply to the sensor.
Device Manager is a Windows tool that shows all connected hardware the PC can see, and can be found by searching from the Start Menu. When something is plugged into (or unplugged from) a computer, assuming Device Manager is open, the window will flash as the whole page updates:
- If, when plugging in the sensor, Device Manager does not flash, then Windows is not recognizing the sensor being plugged in at all. This could be an issue with the USB ports or with the sensor hardware itself.
- If, when plugging in the sensor, Device Manager does flash and a new line populates showing "Unknown Device" that does not go away after a minute, either the drivers are not installed on this PC or there is an issue with the sensor hardware itself.
When a sensor readies but does not respond to radiation, the causes are usually one of the following:
- Insufficient power supply. If using any kind of USB extension, try connecting the sensor directly to the computer's USB port. If that is not possible, try using a powered USB hub with no other devices plugged into it besides the sensor.
  You can also reference our article on Disabling USB Power Management / Selective Suspension.
- Insufficient radiation. Wall mounted x-ray generators will slowly lose focus over time, and as such, the radiation experienced at the same distance from the end of the tube head will slowly drop as the months and years go by. If the sensor seems to work in testing with nothing blocking it, but fails when any anatomy gets in the way, then either the exposure value is too low or the x-ray generator / tube head might be due for some maintenance.

If you are still having issues, please follow this link to submit a ticket.

Article Version 1.0 2021.02.22

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