Figure 2. The technical principle of the iTero scanner.

The iTero scanner uses confocal laser scanning in which a laser beam (red) is projected on an object. Via a beam splitter, the reflected beam (purple) is led through a focal filter so that only the image that lies in the focal point of the lens can project on the sensor. As the focal distance is known, the distance of the scanned part of the object to the lens is known (the focal distance). To scan the whole object, the lens is moved up and down, each time projecting a part of the object onto the sensor.