# Developing an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) based handheld intraoral scanner for dentistry

> **NIH NIH R44** · PERCEPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · 2024 · $838,114

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Cyberdontics is revolutionizing the dental industry by developing a novel intraoral scanner that will enable
affordable and efficient dental care. The market for dental services in the US is valued at $109 billion, but only
60% of Americans seek professional dental care. Of the patients that visit a dentist, they accept the ideal dental
treatment plan only 28% of the time. The main reasons cited for patients declining care are cost, the
inconvenience of multiple and lengthy dental appointments, patients believing they have good oral health when
they do not, and insurers not agreeing with the need for care. Avoiding the dentist for these reasons usually
results in dental disease progression, periodontal disease, and other oral problems, which impact patient
systemic health. Therefore, there is a critical need to reduce the cost of care, shorten visits, and help patients
and insurers understand the patient has a dental problem so they can accept care. Cyberdontics is adapting
optical coherence tomography (OCT), a fast, non-ionizing, and highly sensitive and specific approach, for dental
applications by creating an ultra-fast frame-capture-time 3D swept source (SS) OCT intraoral scanner that has
usability comparable to today’s intraoral surface scanners. This will replace current OCT techniques, which are
not adapted to the dental clinic as they slower, more involved, and less accurate. Cyberdontics is committed to
providing accessible and effective dental care.
In this Direct to Phase II proposal, Cyberdontics will develop their ultra-fast frame-capture-time 3D SS-OCT
scanner by increasing its performance and effectiveness. They will upgrade the laser, digitizer, and processing
pipeline, as well as evaluate and optimize various algorithms to improve the accuracy of the scan. Additionally,
they will conduct tests on human subjects to compare the performance of their scanner to traditional methods
and assess its effectiveness in guiding the placement of subgingival crowns. Upon completion of this work,
Cyberdontics will be well-positioned to pursue commercialization of their innovative imaging solution.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11003269
- **Project number:** 5R44DE033316-02
- **Recipient organization:** PERCEPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Wei Kang
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $838,114
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-19 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11003269

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11003269, Developing an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) based handheld intraoral scanner for dentistry (5R44DE033316-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11003269. Licensed CC0.

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