Dental surface imaging apparatus using laser projection

1. An intra-oral imaging apparatus for obtaining a surface contour image of a tooth, the apparatus comprising:

a structured light fringe pattern generator energizable to repeatedly emit a fringe pattern illumination, the fringe pattern generator comprising:

(i) at least one structured light laser that is energizable to emit a patterned light beam;

(ii) at least one reflective element in the path of the emitted patterned light beam and actuable to repeatedly rotate about an axis to reflect the emitted patterned light beam toward the tooth surface a plurality of times, wherein the repeated rotation and reflection of the patterned light beam in amalgamation forms the fringe pattern illumination that includes a plurality of patterned light beams;

a detector configured to acquire images of the fringe pattern illumination from the tooth surface; and

a control logic processor that is configured to control the structured light fringe pattern generator to illuminate the tooth, where the relative position of the fringe pattern illumination is incrementally shifted according to a pre-determined fringe spatial period and time period, and to obtain and process the images acquired by the detector to generate the surface contour image.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the emitted patterned light beam forms a line on the tooth surface.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the emitted patterned light beam forms a two-dimensional pattern simultaneously having two or more substantially parallel lines or having two or more curved lines.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the emitted patterned light beam forms a two-dimensional pattern having two or more dots.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the reflective element is a microelectromechanical systems device or a prism, and wherein the detector comprises one of a CMOS detector and a CCD detector.

6. An intra-oral imaging apparatus for obtaining a contour image of a tooth, the apparatus comprising:

a fringe pattern generator energizable to emit a fringe pattern illumination, the fringe pattern generator comprising:

(i) at least a first laser diode that is energizable to emit a first light beam along an optical axis;

(ii) optics in the path of the emitted first light beam from the first laser diode, wherein the optics shape the emitted first light beam to provide a line output, wherein the line extends in a direction that is orthogonal to the optical axis;

(iii) a second laser diode that is energizable to emit a second light beam at a wavelength that differs from the wavelength of the first laser diode;

(iv) a beamsplitter that is disposed to combine light from the shaped emitted first light beam and the second light beam from the first and second laser diodes, respectively, to form an emitted light beam; and

(v) a reflective element in the path of the emitted line beam and energizable to rotate about an axis that is substantially orthogonal to the optical axis to repeatedly direct the emitted light beam along a tooth surface as the fringe pattern illumination;

a detector configured to form one or more images of the fringe pattern illumination from the tooth surface; and

a control logic processor that is configured to control the fringe pattern generator for illuminating the tooth and to obtain and process the one or more images acquired by the detector.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , where the reflective element is a microelectromechanical systems device or a prism, and where the optics comprise a lens.

8. A method for obtaining a surface contour image of a tooth, the method executed at least in part by a computer and comprising:

energizing a structured light laser diode to emit a line light beam extending in one direction;

repeatedly rotating at least one uniaxial reflective element in the path of the emitted line light beam about an axis to scan the line light beam along a tooth surface a plurality of times to generate a fringe pattern illumination comprising a plurality of spaced lines, where the relative position of the fringe pattern illumination is incrementally shifted according to a pre-determined fringe spatial period and time period;

forming one or more images of the fringe pattern illumination from the tooth surface;

analyzing the images of the fringe pattern illumination to derive tooth contour information; and

displaying the tooth contour information according to the analysis.

9. The method of claim 8 , where energizing a structured light laser diode to emit a patterned light beam comprises:

energizing a second structured light laser diode to emit a light beam at a wavelength that differs from a wavelength of a light beam of a first structured light laser diode; and

combining light beams from the first and second laser diodes using a beamsplitter to form the emitted patterned light beam.