3-D Dentistry

A Caltech imaging innovation will ease your trip to the dentist and may soon energize home entertainment systems too. Although dentistry has come a long way since the time when decayed teeth were extracted by brute force, most dentists are still using the clumsy, time-consuming, and imperfect impression method when making crowns or bridges. But that process could soon go the way of general anesthesia in family dentistry thanks to a 3-D imaging device developed by Mory Gharib , Caltech vice provost and Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and professor of bioinspired engineering. By the mid-2000s, complex dental imaging machines-also called dental scanners-began appearing on the market. The devices take pictures of teeth that can be used to create crowns and bridges via computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques, giving the patient a new tooth the same day. But efficiency doesn't come without cost-and at more than $100,000 for an entire system, few dentists can afford to invest in the equipment. Within that challenge, Gharib saw an opportunity.