Advances of 3D digital imaging in orthodontics

Advances of 3D digital imaging in orthodontics

Sophiscated methods in mapping both facial soft tissus and skeletal structures have been developed for different purposes in computerized craniofacial analysis. Various methids such as laser scanning, stereophotogrammetry, photographic systems, light digitizers, spatial digitizers, optoslsctronic fevices, and CT-Scans were utilized to derive 3D measurements and modeling of hard and soft tissue of the human head. A non~invasive, economical, yet reliable method for measuring human facial skeletal structure has been developed in the past. Recently attempts to correalte the underlying skeletal stucture with the facial soft tissue by means of 3D computer software (3DCeph.NET™). Laser surface scanner has become popular recently. By triangulating distances between reflecting laser beam to the scanned surface, the surface laser scanner is able to detect not only the length and width of an object but also it´s depth. It´s ease of use has opened various possibilities in laboratiry research as well as clinical investigation. Assessment of the reliability of generating three-dimensional object reconstrctiona by utilizing the Minolta Vivid700 3D surface laser scanner was done.