Biotech Dental WOW Intraoral Scanner

A different type of intraoral scanner

The WOW scanner is a completely different product compared to all other IOS on the market today. Most IOS are essentially three-dimensional scanners, in that they project a light source (laser, structured light, etc.) onto the object to be scanned. This light source reflects off the object and the images of the dentogingival tissues is captured by imaging sensors. These images are then processed by the scanning software, which generates point clouds. These point clouds are then triangulated by the same software, creating a 3D surface model (mesh) which is then colour rendered by the software.

The WOW IOS feels more like an intraoral camera than a 3D scanner. This is true for both its shape and the hyper-realistic images it produces. It is essentially an intraoral video camera with which you can acquire a 3D model by video recording inside a patient's mouth.


The WOW scanner is a completely different product compared to all other IOS on the market today. Most IOS are essentially three-dimensional scanners, in that they project a light source (laser, structured light, etc.) onto the object to be scanned. This light source reflects off the object and the images of the dentogingival tissues is captured by imaging sensors. These images are then processed by the scanning software, which generates point clouds. These point clouds are then triangulated by the same software, creating a 3D surface model (mesh) which is then colour rendered by the software.

The WOW IOS feels more like an intraoral camera than a 3D scanner. This is true for both its shape and the hyper-realistic images it produces. It is essentially an intraoral video camera with which you can acquire a 3D model by video recording inside a patient's mouth. This is a key distinction to make as it explains many aspects of the scanner that we will discuss below, such as why the scanner is so small. Also the scanner has a completely different scanning strategy which is discussed later in the review.

 
High Performance Laptop Included

We were pleasantly surprised to find a laptop included with the WOW scanner. This is something that is not currently seen with any other intraoral scanner on the market and is a simple but great idea. We constantly get questions about optimum computer specifications for other scanners, so providing a purpose chosen laptop included with the scanner solves a lot of these issues.

The WOW scanner comes with a MSI GS65 computer which is an equally stylish and modern high performance laptop. It is 15.6-inches in size, ultra thin and easily portable. Its great to see the company behind WOW did not opt to include some cheap, heavy alternative. For those who want to know the specifications, here they are: GTX 1060 6G, i7-8750H 6 Core, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, full HD 144Hz high res screen, aluminium frame, black with gold diamond Cut, Linux OS.
 

Scanning Speed

The WOW scanner is an interesting IOS to use - it is like nothing else on the market and has a completely different feel. The scanning protocol is quite different to all other scanners on the market. If you try to use it like you would use a TRIOS or CEREC, you will find it is quite slow to scan a full arch with. Once you follow the recommended scanning strategy, it becomes much better. Below is an example of the recommended scanning strategy when using the WOW scanner, compared to traditional scanning strategies. Much like all others it does not require any powders or scan sprays and produces a hyper-realistic colour image.
The main issue that really slows this scanner down, particularly for beginners, is the scanning flow. It is quite hard at first to keep a continuous scan across the arch due to a number of reasons – the very specific focal length, the occasional software lag and hiccups and more annoyingly, the fact the scanner doesn't pick up from the last point very quickly if it loses its position or is paused. When taking a quadrant scan, it took around 1 minute to complete each quadrant, and around 2-3 minutes for a full arch.

The WOW scanner also felt generally less forgiving of your positioning compared to all other IOS. As we described above, it needs to be held almost precisely a certain distance from the teeth for smooth scanning. Trying to do this without the guides is frustrating, as the scanner will constantly lose its place if you are slightly too close or too far away from the tooth surfaces.

 
Scanner Size & Ergonomic Design
In regards to scanner size and ergonomics there is simply no better scanner on the market than the WOW scanner. In an ideal world, every scanner would be as small and as lightweight as this. There is really no comparison in this aspect. The WOW scanner is about the size of a toothbrush and easily has the smallest scanner head on the market. It is smaller than the TRIOS scanners, Medit i500 and of course the CEREC Primescan or Itero. Ironically, the scanning guides can make it harder to scan in tighter areas regardless of the size of the scanner itself, as the guides themselves are a little bulky.

It is very lightweight at 110 grams, this makes it half the weight of most scanners and a quarter of the larger ones. The scanner only comes in one configuration and that is pen-grip or held like an intraoral camera. It is NOT wireless, and plugs in simply to the supplied laptop with a USB. It does not need its own power source.
Considering it is an inexpensive IOS, it definitely doesn’t feel that way. Although mostly plastic, the scanner feels well built and is completely waterproof. It looks modern and thanks to its lightweight nature it is also very ergonomic, especially when compared to other 'cheap' scanners. The smaller scanner size is also generally comfortable for patients and makes intraoral maneuvering easier.

The WOW IOS has only one functional button to start and stop the scan, which is found on the top of the scanner. This button can also be used to progress through the workflow with long presses to continue to the next step. Above this button there is an LED light that gives you visual feedback about the scan - it will colour green when scanning and red when the scanner has lost its position. There is no 'on/off' button for the scanner and it simply powers on when connected to the computer. With the WOW scanner it does not need a designated power source like most other IOS, it simply works by connecting through a USB cable in the laptop. It is easy to start and get going.

There is an obvious downside of this small size and thats simply how much imaging tech can be packed into the body. In comparison, the much larger CEREC Primescan has a range of processors in the scanner itself to compute the images before it even reaches the computer. Whereas the WOW scanner does not have the luxury of space and thus the computing power has evidently been sacrificed as a result, resulting in the software sometimes struggling to keep up with the scanning pace. Additionally, due to its small size the WOW scanner has a very small scanning window. Therefore small variations in your position can easily make the scanner lose its place.

Artificial intelligence

The artificial intelligence (AI) in this scanner is functional but not excellent. The AI is responsible for stitching together the scan data and removes any artifacts. Overall it works well enough to stitch an image or arch scan together but fails to remove soft tissue interference like the tongue/cheeks in a predictable manner. The AI can also sometimes lose its place while scanning the arch and randomly jump to a different part of the scan, breaking the workflow.

It is said by Biotech Dental that the software incorporates deep learning. However, as it is new to the market it will take months for this to unveil the full potential that can be expected for this kind of AI driven technology. These claims cannot be confirmed nor denied at this stage, time will tell.

Overall, the main issue we found with the AI is that it does not quickly pick up when the scan has been stopped. Even with ample reference points, if the scanning flow is broken, or you lose your place, it will take some time to continue scanning again and this can make it quite frustrating to complete a scan.

 
Inbuilt Heater

The WOW scanner has an inbuilt heater in the scanner head. At first this is not obvious as the scanner head is so small, but it is warm to touch. Much like almost every scanner on the market now, this makes it easier to scan for long periods as the heater prevents fogging of the scanner tip while in the mouth. This is a useful addition for the scanner and is great to see here. The scanner also does not need any warm-up time and can be used soon after it is turned on which is useful.

 
Full Arch Scanning

The WOW scanner does an acceptable job in quadrant scanning and full arch scanning. The main issue here is that it requires a lot of practice. It is much harder to use than any other scanner because of the factors we have mentioned above. However once you get a hang of it, it isn't too bad.

We found we could achieve a full arch scan in around 1-2 minutes. This is not particularly fast in today's market of sub-45 second scanners. The scanner does have an inbuilt heater which helps a lot as it prevents the scanner fogging at all, especially in extended periods of use in the mouth. It is extremely small which helps with its use.

There is no external research on this scanner regarding full arch scanning accuracy, trueness or precision.

 
Ease of Use

This typical workflow is as follows: filling out the patient details and lab form, scanning the preparation, scanning the opposing teeth and finally, scanning the bite and compute occlusion manually or automatically. Viewing scans and minor edits of the scans can be carried out, but overall the scan editing tools are limited. You can also marginate preps via an automatic margin tool or a brush tool.

The software, once again, does not design any prosthetics nor has any design aspects. It is just a scanner and has no CAD design software. There is integration however with Biotech and other companies such as Smilers for Aligners.

For those looking to carry out the entire workflow in-house, you will need to invest in a 3rd party CAD software like exocad and 3rd party milling machine.