An Austrian start-up is gearing up to launch a 3D scanner for dentistry that it says is smaller and lighter than intraoral scanners already on the market.
The Bluescan I intraoral scanner was developed at the Austrian Institute of Technology and is being commercialized by a.tron3D, according to a story on optics.org. The scanner features a continuous blue LED source and a pair of tiny cameras more typically used in mobile handsets, and it generates a 3D image of a full set of teeth in just a few minutes.
The scanner is about half the size of similar scanners already being marketing by 3M ESPE and Cadent (now part of Align Technology), according to a.tron3D. It can port directly to a standard USB connection, and the 3D models produced can be sent to any dental laboratory in the world, the company said.
