Lantis Laser is partnering with Axsun Technologies to upgrade its optical coherence tomography (OCT) dental system.
Axsun designs integrated microelectromechanical systems (MEMs) OCT engines.
The Lantis system will be upgraded with Axsun's patented swept source technology, which will result in the highest attainable performance for frequency domain optical coherence tomography, according to a Lantis press release.
Lantis' OCT Dental Imaging System consists of a handheld scanner the size of a handpiece that, using coherent light, captures real-time, high-resolution cross-sectional images (tomographic slices) of hard or soft dental tissue. The captured images are sent to the company's proprietary imaging software running on a PC for display and analysis.
This chair-side tool can be used for the early detection of tooth decay (including root surface decay), caries around restorations at an early stage, gum disease, the marginal integrity of restorations, and more. According to the company, the system even lets you measure periodontal pockets without physical probing.
This light-based system boasts a resolution up to 10 times that of X-rays, but doesn’t emit any harmful radiation, according to a Lantis press release.
The system, which was slated to hit the market this year, will now be launched in 2009 because of the upgrade.
"Swept source OCT engines that are high-performance and manufacturable in high volume are something we have sought for many years while developing the dental application of OCT. The technology has now caught up with the application, allowing us to offer a much higher system performance level in terms of scanning speed, resolution and in field reliability," said Stan Baron, president and CEO of Lantis in a press release. "At the same time, the cost effectiveness of the Integrated MEMs OCT Engine enables us to meet the targeted price to the dentist of approximately $25,000."
"The application of our technology into the dental industry is very exciting as there is a very large potential customer base to purchase Lantis' OCT Dental Imaging System, and we are geared up to supply this large market," said Dale Flanders, CEO of Axsun in the same release.
