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CAD-Ray Announces Exclusive Partnership with QLONE Dental Face Scanner App

At CAD-Ray, our mission has always been clear: to provide dental professionals with the most innovative technologies and the best possible value. Today, we’re proud to announce an exclusive partnership with the QLONE Dental Face Scanner App — making CAD-Ray the only dental dealer in the USA with this unique offering.

What is QLONE Dental?

QLONE is an intuitive, mobile-based 3D facial scanning app that runs on your smartphone or tablet. With just a few taps, clinicians can capture accurate 3D facial models and integrate them seamlessly into their digital workflow. The app allows STL and OBJ exports, making it compatible with virtually any CAD or smile design software you already use.

This means dentists and labs can quickly align facial scans with intraoral data, improve treatment planning, and enhance patient communication — all without additional hardware or complicated setups.

Free for the First Year with CAD-Ray

Normally, QLONE is a $200 per year subscription. But as part of this new partnership, CAD-Ray is including the first year of QLONE free of charge with every scanner or printer purchase (Starting 9/1/2025). That means you and your team can try it  see the benefits firsthand, and explore how facial scanning can elevate your practice.

Why This Matters

Adding QLONE to our portfolio is more than just another product. It’s about:

  • Commitment to Our Customers – giving you access to the latest tools that strengthen your digital dentistry workflow.

  • Leading Technology – facial scanning is the next frontier, and QLONE makes it quick, affordable, and accessible.

  • Future Growth – this easy entry point into facial scanning naturally leads to advanced systems, ensuring you’re always ready for what’s next.

  • Reinforcing Trust – CAD-Ray continues to be the go-to partner for digital dental technologies, offering not only equipment but also training, service, and innovation.

See It in Action

We’ll be attaching demo videos below so you can see just how simple QLONE is to use. From capturing a scan in minutes to exporting into your preferred CAD or smile design software, it’s a game-changer for case presentation and patient engagement.

Download and Try It Today

We encourage you to download the QLONE Dental App and give it a try. It’s quick, easy, and designed to work seamlessly with the CAD-Ray technologies you already know and trust.

With CAD-Ray and QLONE, you’re not just getting an app — you’re getting a partnership in innovation.

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Proving the Accuracy of Shining Elite Intra-Oral Photogrammetry Scanner

Here is a quick introductory video of how the process works and the subsequent cases provide a lot more detail and information

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Quick Overview

Case 1

In this video we detail how the process works and how you capture everything you need for your full arches with one scanner.

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Details of Case in the Overview

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the surgical plan01:59

 

Precision, Trueness, and Accuracy

A common property that is oftentimes used to describe how well scanners perform is how accurate, precise, or true it is.  A lot of people use this incorrectly to describe intraoral scanners and it is utilized in poor judgment because there are too many variables in the input of the equation to ascertain any conclusion from the output file.  But these characteristics CAN be used to study photogrammtery.

In this chart, the bullseye represents the true value (true location of the object), while black dots represent measurements (the estimated 3D locations of the object based on the 2D images) from this source.   To measure the precision, we took 3 random arrangements of the dominos and found the output files to be identical.  To measure its accuracy and trueness, we related it to a desktop scan of the same model

Precision Test
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Precision Test04:08

Accuracy Test with Desktop Scan02:50

Accuracy Test vs ICAM04:44

iCAM to iCAM testing02:12

you can download these models and test them out for yourself:  compare elite to icam and desktop scan

When is image capture complete?

A frequent question we field is how does an operator know how much of the dominos / scanflags to capture.  The manufacturer recommends a specific scan path and to completely capture the suprastructure.  Our internal testing shows that there is no difference between the results as long as you allow the software to spit out the scanflag geometry while you are scanning. See this video for an explanation

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How Well does the Intraoral Scanner  Work on Soft and Hard Tissue?

lots of people ask about the intra oral scanning experience with the shining elite device. please note that this is COMPLETELY different technology than the intraoral photogrammetry unit. it has performed on par with every other scanner i use, if not better. it has such a huge field of view it picks up a lot of data at once. It is prone to every issue that all ios have, ranging from double models to introducing errors over long edentulous and symmetric spans, etc… so scan path is still important.

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Intra Oral Scanning Performance

Case 2

The first video in this series shows a quick overview of a multi unit case and the subsequent videos goes into more detail

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Quick Overview

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Case in Detail08:44

Radiograph of the delivered case

 

Case 3 – Managing and immediate case with bone reductio

This video shows how to manage immediate conversion cases and compares and IPG with an extra-oral Photogrammetry Machine

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How to load libraries into Shining 3D Elite Intra-Oral Photogrammetry Software

This should be done by an experienced person.  Here we load a dess MUA library into the equation in the first video. In the second video we import Jonathan Abeneim’s Xcell libraries, followed by Danny Domingue Vortex library import

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Xcell Scanbody Import00:45

Vortex Folder Import01:42

Scanner Tip Dimensions

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Everything You Need to Know about Capturing Full Arch Impressions and Designing / Fabricaing All on X Restorations

In this article we detail everything you need to capture to design and all on x type of restoration so you can quickly print a prosthesis and deliver it to your patient as quickly after surgery as possible.  We think it is best to start with the end in mind and work backwards to the models you need to capture.

Models Needed to Design

These are the models you need to bring into exocad per arch.  Of course, you can bring in more information into the equation if you chose to:

  • Tissue scan (ideally when sutured and not a bloody field). This is usually captured with an intra-oral scanner. Some take an alginate of the arch and scan it with a desktop scanner.
  • Implant locations, which are the multi-unit abutment margins.  These are captured in a variety of ways, all of which have to address the limitations of scanning edentulous flat and symmetric surfaces which introduce Veersing Errors.  These options include extra-oral photogrammetry, intra-oral photogrammetry, and/or implant suprastructures that reduce or eliminate scanning errors, like the Scan Ladder, io connect from TruAbutment, etc…
  • Preop Scan, or more ideally a wax up scan to the correct vertical dimension
  • A designer also ideally would want the opposing model and buccal bites as well.

All of these models need to be properly related to each other which is an endeavor in itself.  All of the models listed above are also disciplines of their own and many chapters could be devoted to each topic. Assuming you have this information imported into CAD software correctly, you can design the temps very quickly and get them into the printer for a temporary

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Rapid Design of All on X with exocad

Merging Models to Each Other

The traditional approach to these cases required a model of the arch with some suprastructure that could be used to relate it to the photogrammetry scan.  This process can be quite arduous and involves lots of steps.  Other current systems, like the Shining Elite allow you to merge models in the native scanning software.  Alternatively, you must make sure you have common stitching abutments to related models to each other in CAD software.  You can use common landmarks that are found in both models to accomplish this like in this demonstration

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Using Common Landmarks to Relate Models to Each Other

Managing Surgical Cases Where Stitching Landmarks are Removed to Accommodate Space for the Prosthesis

The approach to these get much more complicated when you don’t have those landmarks available to you from one model to the next, usually because the they have been surgically removed. You must:

  • Capture the pre-op or wax up and relate it to the tissue scan
  • capture the tissue scan and relate it to the implant location models.

One way to do this is to place arch trackers in areas away from the crucial areas of the arch, namely the retromolar pad area on buccal to the mental foramen.  The Shining Elite Scanner allows you to do this in their own native imaging software. In the first video you will see how the arch tracker allows you to relate the iPG scans with your tissue scans.

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Arch Tracker used to Relate the iPG and Ios Models to each other

You have to leave the arch tracker in place from the very beginning to the very end. If possible, we recommend you remove them only after you have placed the temporaries as it leaves you a back up in case something goes awry in the process.  You will use it to relate the preop to the tissue to the iPG models.

Scanbody vs Scancap for the Shining Elite Device

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The BIGGEST issue most people have with digital impression for full arch cases is how to keep track of relating models to each other, namely relating the preop to the tissue scan and to the domino scans.
In healed cases, this is much easier to manage. you have landmarks that are immobile in the tissue that you can use for this purpose, so make sure to capture data beyond your pre-existing prosthetic/teeth so that you can easily merge them later. relating the tissue scan to the dominos are also easy as the unaltered tissue between the two models can readily aid in that process
the degree of difficulty skyrockets when you have a surgical field with flaps moving and blood everywhere and you have many choices. my preference is to use a arch tracker that you place in bone and that stays in place throughout the whole process. the trouble with the arch tracker is that i can be in the way of surgical guides if you use them, or that they may move during the procedure if you bump into them. you’re ultimate savior then is the scancap. it is hard coded by shining to let you merge the dominos (scanbodies) with the scancaps.

Alternate methods include using proprietary material from sources that are very well versed in this matter, like Jonathan Abeneim’s Excel Protocol, which he highlights in this webinar.  He used his THS caps to not only related these models to each other but also perfectly mount your models to the opposing arch

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THS Caps by Dr. Johnathan Abeneim
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3shape automate for Trios Users – Milling or Printing has never been easier

If you use trios, and you have been thinking about adding a 3D printer or milling setup to your office, but have been nervous about designs or CAD – time to think again.

3shape automate allows you to to use AI to design crowns, inlays, onlays, nightguards and more in seconds, with almost no experience needed. For as little as $2.99 per unit and 2 to 3 minutes – have your restorations or nightguards ready to print or mill. You and your team can focus on the patient, and have no fear about investing tons of time, money and heartache into learning CAD.

Check out this video from CAD-Ray technical team leader Ryan showing just how easy it could be.

Be sure to reach out to us at support@cad-ray.com or 1833-223-7292 to talk more about Trios, 3shape automate, or 3D Printer or Milling solutions with our world famous support from start to finish. 

 

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How to Use the Shining Photogrammetry and Elite Intra-Oral Scanner in Immediate Cases

Stitching Abutments
One of the most important things to keep in mind when imaging with scanner is to keep a stitching abutments in tact between various models. In dentate cases, we usually keep a few teeth and extract them at the very end. Other times, some surgeons prefer to extract all the teeth, place the implants, and then scan the multi unit abutments. In that situation, it is imperative that you add adjuncts to the equation like bone screws or arch trackers.
This must be applied to relating the preop jaw scan with the jaw scan AND also the tissue scan and domino scan flags in the equation.

If you do not have the stitching landmarks to relate his tissue scan and the domino scan. What gets even more complicated is that the software forces you capture the tissue and merge it to the dominos before you proceed.

The first video explains the software requirements, and the second video demonstrates how you can bypass that requirement for an immediate case

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Case Set-Up
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How to Image Immediate Extraction and Fixture Placement

Comparing the results of this case between the icam scan and the shining intra-oral photogrammetry machine
You can download these models and compare them for yourself:

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icam vs shining elite
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The Field of View is the Holy Grail of Intra-Oral Scanners

The field of view of or scan area is probably the most important factor to keep in mind with ios. i don’t know of a single study that discusses this. Admittedly i don’t read any studies on digital dentistry because they are riddled with errors and nonsense here i demonstrate how a small field of view set deliberately affects our results and introduces errors. what happens when you scan an edentulous area, the buccal and lingual vestibule are out of focal distance which dramatically reduces the scan area.
This is precisely why ios can veer off track and introduce errors in your models. to drive the point home, if you scan the intaglio of a physical impression, the same vestibular areas provide solid landmarks and data that help keep the scanner on track

 

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Scanner Tip Dimensions and Their Impact on Accurate Scanning

An often overlooked characteristics of an intra-oral scanner is the scan area / window. The larger the area, the more likely it is that your scanner will stay on track and not derail and introduce errors. In this video, we demonstrate how a small scan area, rendered either digitally or by small sized tips, can readily introduce errors known as the Veersing Effect. We can overcome this easily just by holding the camera in a proper orientation.  Some scanners make this much easier because of their tip dimensions.  The Trios 5 is 19mm x 13mm, the Medit tip is 15 x 13, and the DEXIS 3800 Side Tip can capture up to 19.6 mms.  The 19 mm tip size makes these scanners the preferred ones for larger implant cases with extended edentulous spaces between the suprastructures.

In the video below, we will explain how the capture window size (field of view) affects the accuracy of intraoral scanning and provide tips on how to optimize the capture of data during scanning

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Medit Tip Dimensions

DEXIS 3800 Tip Dimensions

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“Veersing” Effect – How Intra-Oral Scanners Introduce Errors in Edentulous Jaws and Flat Planes

In the world of digital dental scanning, precision and accuracy are paramount. To shed light on the potential pitfalls and challenges faced by dental professionals, Dr. Armen Mirzayan of CAD-Ray has put together an eye-opening video. In this demonstration, Dr. Mirzayan explores the intriguing concept of The “Veersing” Effect and how it can lead to scanning errors when using digital dental scanners. We’ll delve into the video to understand the nuances of these errors, using examples from some of the leading brands we sell, including the Trios 5, Dexis 3800, and Medit 700. Each of these devices possesses its own unique features and capabilities, making them essential tools in modern dentistry.

Understanding Scanning Errors:

Scanning errors can have significant consequences in the dental industry. From inaccurate digital models to flawed treatment planning, these errors can compromise patient care and results. In Dr. Mirzayan’s video, we uncover the ‘Veersing’ phenomenon and its relevance to scanning errors. “Veersing” is essentially the involuntary loss of awareness of a digital scanner, causing it to not recognize its position and create errant or double images.

Additional Note: It’s essential to understand that in dentate cases, the properties of enamel can introduce errors. These errors arise from refraction, reflection, and light transmission through enamel. The asymmetric tooth morphologies can help your scanner stay on track. In edentulous cases, we face a different set of challenges related to the symmetric anatomy of the object being scanned, making it easy for the software to plot data points where they don’t belong.

Handheld vs. Desktop Scanners:

One of the video’s key takeaways is the difference between handheld and desktop dental scanners. Handheld scanners, like the ones we’ve featured, capture images and stitch them together to create digital models. Desktop scanners, on the other hand, take multiple views of a stationary object (also, with a wider field of view), resulting in higher accuracy and less room for errors. Understanding this distinction is vital in avoiding ‘Veersing’ and other scanning errors.

Examples of Scanning Errors:

Dr. Mirzayan demonstrates the potential for scanning errors with real-world examples from the video. These examples provide a visual insight into how ‘Veersing’ can affect the accuracy of digital models created with these scanners.

Preventing Scanning Errors:

To prevent ‘Veersing’ and other scanning errors, proper scanner positioning is crucial. Maximizing the field of view is key, as it allows for more accurate data capture. Additionally, considering the virtues of desktop scanners, which inherently provide multiple views of stationary objects, is another important step toward achieving precision.

Importance of Accuracy in Digital Dentistry:

The overarching message of Dr. Mirzayan’s video is clear – accuracy in digital dental scanning is non-negotiable. Avoiding scanning errors is a cornerstone in treatment planning, leading to better patient outcomes and more precise dental work, and steps can be taken to reduce the potential for those errors.

Conclusion:

In a world where dental technology is constantly evolving, understanding and preventing scanning errors are paramount. Dr. Armen Mirzayan’s video is a valuable resource that highlights the nuances of ‘Veersing’ and scanning errors, providing insights for professionals to enhance their scanning processes. We invite you to watch the video and embark on a journey to a more accurate and precise dental practice.

Share your thoughts and experiences with us regarding digital dental scanning. If you have any questions or concerns about the scanners mentioned in the video or any other dental technology, don’t hesitate to reach out to CAD-Ray. For more information, please visit our website at www.cad-ray.com and watch Dr. Mirzayan’s video to gain a deeper understanding of ‘Veersing’ and the importance of avoiding scanning errors.

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The Veersing Effect
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A Preview of the Fastest Way to Design a Large Temporary Prosthesis

DOWNLOAD THE CASE TO DESIGN ALONG

One of the most challenging designs to do chairside is the design of a multi unit temporary that needs to be printed.  This is incredibly time consuming as you spent significant amount of time just marking margins on a dozen units.  With this technique pioneered by CAD-Ray you can bypass the margination step and design a large case in about a minute.

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Short Version

There are specific rules and steps you need to follow and one mis-step can cost you a lot of time.  You must also understand that you need to keep slicing software limitations in mind so you are not frustrated with the results.  Here is a summary:

  1. you cannot have any holes or gaps in any model or between two models that you are trying to combine/unite
  2. you must understand the difference between working and non working surfaces and how to manipulate them
  3. in your wax up designs, you must make sure that the wax up model ALWAYS extends past the margins of your preps.
More Detailed Version
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More Detailed Version

join us in one of our seminars to learn how to expedite this process and learn it in detail

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Capturing Dynamic Mandibular Movements with Medit, an Unapologetic Patent Infringing Feature of 3Shape’s Proprietary and Intellectual Property?

The clash of the titans are in full effect.  We are not smart enough to understand all the dynamics of patented software and hardware. While we let the manufacturers sort it out, we wanted to demonstrate how the new mandibular jaw movements are captured in Meditlink


 

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Additional Scans Catalog Box in Medit Software

Many scanners limit the number of scans you can take on a patient.  This becomes cumbersome when you want to image pre-existing conditions, tissue scans for implantology, and other advanced needs

With version 3.0 in Meditlink software, launched in October of 2022, you can import or scan multiple models in the same patient chart

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Setting Occlusal Plane and Vertical Midline in 3D

Download the 3D Occlusal Plane and Vertical Line
horizontal plane and Vertical line

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Here’s a tutorial on how to use tinkercad in more depth

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Scanbodies and Edentulous Ridges

Scanning long span edentulous is a very likely culprit with rendering dimensionally accurate models because to the software and camera, the geometric shapes are too identical across the ridge.

The more we can disrupt the symmetry with large, short, non-reflective and asymmetric scanbodies, the more likely we are to keep the models accurate. This video presentation address some of those issues and how to overcome them.

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Introducing Powerball 2.0 by Dr. Johnathan Abeneim

This webinar hosted by CAD-Ray is an information program detailing the specific screw called the Powerball for Full Arch Hybrid Restorations

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New 3Shape Trios 5 Pricing and Catalogs

Scan Assistant

Why is this a significant step?

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02:44

00:30

 

Product Brochures

3Shape TRIOS Product Catalogue 22.1

 

PC Catalog 21.4
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Self Guided Tours of CAD-Ray Facility and its Offerings

Are you interested in an office build out or incorporating technology into your practice?

feel free to visit us when we are conducting courses or sign up to take a self guided tour at your convenience when you come out to Las Vegas for a business trip. You can reach us by emailing support@cad-ray.com

 

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Do NOT use the Double Cord Technique in the Traditional Manner for Digital Impressions

There is a concept in digital dentistry that is called “mixing good and bad data”.  What you have to appreciate is that two different objects can’t occupy the same space in the same 3D model.  The clinical example of this is when you pack 2 cords, image the margins, then remove the top cord and image the preparation some more.

This introduces a lot of errors and distortion at the margins. You either have to image with 2 cords retracting the tissue at once or take top cord out and the image the only remaining cord.  This is a habit that has carried over from analog that most users can’t seem to get past and often get frustrated with the results. See the video for a detailed explanation

 

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margin visualization
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Medit’s Artificial Implant Supra-structure Identification System in Action

In this presentation we detail the implant suprastructure identification system where an existing abutment is removed and scanned extra-orally to capture the margins readily after the abutment is anodized

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abutment identification preview

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detailed presentation of capturing margins extra-orally04:04
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Capturing a Dynamic Bite with the Trios 4 Wireless Scanner

In this video we demonstrate for new and potential users of digital dentistry a implant restoration where the dynamic bite is captured.  We initially imaged the upper and lower jaws with 2 bites. Then we captured the dynamic bite and the returned for the jaw scan with the scanbody. There are many ways to approach this but this sequence we have found to be easiest for new users to digest.

The scanbody was captured after the bite because it usually is taller than the adjacent teeth. There is a chance you may injure the patient if you don’t follow the proper sequence

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Patient Specific Motion Capture

Here is the fabrication process with Amber Mill Direct and DOF craft milling machine