In a lateral projection of the facial bones, the tube is centered at which location?

• A. Center point between the outer canthus of the eye and the external auditory meatus (EAM)
• B. Center point between the pupils
• C. Nasion
• D. Occipital bone

Answer: (A)

In a lateral facial bones projection, you want the central ray to pass through the midface at a reliable surface landmark so the entire facial skeleton is shown in profile with minimal distortion. Centering the beam at the midpoint between the outer corner of the eye and the external ear canal (the outer canthus and the EAM) achieves this. That landmark sits at the appropriate vertical level to image the midface structures (like the nasal bones, maxilla, and zygomatic arches) without rotating the head or missing parts of the facial bones.

Centering between the pupils would misplace the beam for this view and could alter the demonstrated anatomy, while using the nasion or the occipital bone would bias the exposure toward different regions and fail to optimize the lateral facialBones image.