CBCT artifacts you will see and what causes them

Beam hardening produces dark streaks radiating from dense objects — typically metal restorations, crowns and pins. The X-ray beam loses lower-energy photons faster passing through metal, so the reconstruction underestimates attenuation behind it.

Reduce by using metal artifact reduction (MAR) algorithms if your scanner offers them, by avoiding the affected slice in measurement, or by viewing in axial planes where the streak direction is clearer.

Motion artifacts look like blurred or doubled cortical edges. They're caused by patient movement during the 8–25 second acquisition. Re-positioning, bite block, head strap and clear pre-scan instruction reduce incidence.

Scatter creates a low-contrast haze and "cupping" (darker centers). Ring artifacts are concentric rings and signal a miscalibrated detector pixel — usually fixed by a calibration scan.