The illustrated embodiment of the invention encompasses an apparatus for intraoral imaging of teeth of a patient which includes a camera, a robotic arm coupled to the camera which arm is capable of rotating the camera for selectively positioning the camera into the mouth of the patient, at least one sensor coupled to arm to sense the relative position of the teeth and/or mouth with respect to the camera, and a controller coupled to the at least one sensor and arm for controlling the arm to avoid any collision between the teeth or the interior of the mouth and the camera and/or arm, where the controller further selectively moves the arm to track any movement of the patient to keep the camera in a constant relative position with respect to the teeth or mouth.
