The principles of the Scanora multimodal radiography system are described. This self-contained unit of X-ray generator, patient chair, and imaging elements incorporates the two basic principles of narrow beam radiography and spiral tomography. Conventional panoramic images or magnified images of the dentition can be produced. In orthodontics, the application of spiral tomography in order to obtain cross sectional images has proved helpful in the assessment of a number of patients. Four cases are reported in which the images obtained using this system has substantially contributed to their management.