3D face scanners are now part of the digital dental workflow. The technology uses optical scanning to digitally capture and create a rich 3D data representation of a person’s face. The data can be used for various analyses including patient treatment planning, diagnosis, interdisciplinary communication, virtual articulation, smile design.
It also bridges the communication gap between the clinic and the dental laboratory, enabling dentists to easily and quickly collect comprehensive 3D data that is used to design restorations in the context of the patient’s face.
After all, a smile is far more than just a set of teeth: it is the cumulative sum of a person’s face, comprising numerous hard and soft tissue components that are viewed from multiple angles.
Creation of a virtual patient, by combining files from a facial scanner, intraoral scanner and CBCT, can streamline diagnostic procedures, allow accurate analysis of the patient, and serve as an efficient communication tool to relay information to the lab technician and simulate treatment outcomes to the patient.
In spite of these tremendous benefits, there are several factors which may be impairing a more widespread use of 3D scanners in dentistry including investment costs, technical education, and cultural resistance to change.
Why is it so costly and what are the pros and cons of the technology behind 3D face scanners?
There are three scanning methods utilized by facial scanners:
Photogrammetry, structured light scanning, and laser scanning. Within these mechanisms, there are two methodologies: passive and active. Regardless of the method, they are noninvasive, accurate, and reproducible.
Laser 3D scanning uses a laser to take measurements of an object’s geometry.
This is done by running a laser point along every surface of the object to capture measurements from multiple viewpoints. There are two types of laser 3D scanners which differ by the type of calculations: Triangulation using simple trigonometry and time-of-flight.
Structured Light 3D scanning method utilizes a projector and at least two cameras to map a geometry. The projector projects known patterns of light on the surface of the object to be scanned. The cameras of the scanner then record the geometry by measuring where and how the light pattern deforms around the part and creates data points resembling these deformation.
Pros – High accuracy and high resolution. Also, 3D scanning software creates data points in real time so you are able to see which areas of the face have already been scanned.
Cons – Too much ambient light may distort the data due to light interference.
Trouble with shiny/reflective, black, transparent surfaces due to light distortions so teeth areas could be tricky.
Finally, the HW scanner alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars and to upgrade to keep up with technology advancements, you need to purchase a new scanner rather than just new software to avoid becoming obsolete.
Photogrammetry creates 3D models of objects by combining multiple images of it. It requires no special HW so you can even complete the process using images taken with a handheld smartphone.
2D images are processed by software, with many factors taken into account, primarily the camera’s focal length, lens distortion & resolution, positions and angles of the camera when capturing the object, as well as having a sufficient field of view of the camera and overlap between the photos of adjacent areas.
Pros – Creates very detailed 3D scans and accompanying lifelike color texture. Also, very cost effective and low barrier for entry, easy upgrades to software.
Cons – Takes a little time to generate the models so no real time. Highly dependent on lighting conditions and it can have trouble with shiny/reflective and transparent surfaces.
To reach mass adoption, we need a face scanning solution which:
- Works well in the teeth area by creating a detailed mesh that can be easily aligned with an intraoral scan
- Easy to use and fast to learn so there is a very short learning curve
- Cost effective so the investment costs are minimal and the ROI is clear.
Introducing Qlone Dental Pro! A new iPhone app completely focused on 3D face scans for dentistry!
The app offers the highest mesh quality ever seen on a mobile device with up to 16x improvement over current mesh quality in other products. The teeth area would be so detailed it would be super easy to align with an intraoral scan.
Many dentists and dental technicians already use Qlone to scan their patients and integrate their face scans in the dental CAD software! Now its time to move forward to an even better solution – Qlone Dental Pro.
Just like Qlone has become the leading replacement for the retired Bellus3D app, Qlone Dental Pro is even more simplified and focuses on a faster and easier flow from scan to export.
Qlone Dental Pro is also fully compatible with exocad, 3Shape, Blue Sky Plan, Medit and more and you can easily export in OBJ, STL and PLY.
With a very competitive price, there is really no need to spend tens of thousands of $ on expensive HW based face scanners. In fact, Qlone Dental Pro is 100x cheaper than some of these scanners.
Scanning is super easy and fast and the results are automatically optimized for best quality, cropped around the face area so you don’t need to spend time cleaning the 3D models.
As a premium user you can scan an unlimited no. of scans with no cloud credits required! You can also export unlimited models in all 3D formats. You can even import your own models and optimize them in the app for higher mesh quality.
And there is a very strict privacy policy – no image data of your patients is stored or shared on any servers!
Download Qlone Dental Pro app
Learn more about Qlone Dental Pro
Learn here how Qlone Dental compares with other HW scanners from Dr. Wally Renne, a top digital dentistry expert:
Qlone Dental Face Scan alignment in Medit
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