Patent ID: 8638447

Claim:
An apparatus for imaging at least a portion of a patient's dentition, the apparatus comprising: an illumination unit configured to transmit a parent light beam comprising a first wavelength component and a second wavelength component; an optical system configured to generate an illuminated region on a portion of a patient's dentition, wherein the first wavelength component is focused at a first focal plane and the second wavelength component is focused at a second focal plane; a translation mechanism configured to move the position of the first focal plane and the second focal plane at the same time over a range of focal plane positions; a detector unit configured to measure intensity of returned light beams of the first wavelength component and the second wavelength component; and a processor coupled to the detector unit and configured to determine a surface topology of the patient's dentition based at least in part on a first intensity of a first returned light beam of the first wavelength component and a second intensity of a second returned light beam of the second wavelength component.