A dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) system, with a photon generator configured to emit x-ray photons a photon detector spaced apart from the photon generator so as to accommodate at least a portion of a human mouth therebetween, the photon detector configured to receive the x-ray photons and a processor in electronic communication with the photon detector. The photon detector is a direct-conversion detector configured to convert each received x-ray photon directly to a corresponding electrical signal, to determine information corresponding to a spatial pattern of the electrical signals, and to transmit the information to the processor. The processor is further configured to generate an image of the portion of the human mouth from the transmitted information.
