Past Winner
2016 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation

Quick, easy and painless: three words we all want to hear when we visit the dentist. A collaboration between Optech, the optics and photonics technology-transfer centre at Cégep André-Laurendeau, XVP Engineering and Montreal-based Dental Wings has developed fast and precise new tools that help dentists and technicians get their patients smiling again in no time.

Since 2011, Dental Wings has been on an innovation streak, churning out new products almost as fast as it conceives them. It began by developing the intraoral scanner, which allows dentists to take a highly accurate three-dimensional digital impression of the inside of a mouth with the simple sweep of a wand. The tip of the wand features five scanners that can capture tooth and gum measurements from multiple directions at once, providing dentists with one of the most accurate—and smallest—handheld scanners in the world. To help design certain critical optical subsystems and make this challenging technology a reality, the Optech team, led by Maroun Massabki, and the XVP Engineering team, led by François Séguin, brought to the project their extensive experience in photonic product development, manufacturing techniques and optomechanical design. Next, the Optech team helped Dental Wings to evaluate optical metrology systems for a laser milling device that cuts and crafts dental prosthetics with high-resolution detail, creating prosthetic teeth that look flawless and natural. Their latest collaboration is looking at ways to further push the boundaries in optical metrology for the dental industry.

During their five-year collaboration, Optech, XVP Engineering and Dental Wings have tripled the size of their teams while making their partnership a world leader in next-generation dental technology. What is the secret to their highly productive collaboration? Dental Wings designs its products based on the needs of dental professionals, which allows it to quickly move an idea from concept to marketplace, and it leverages the local R&D ecosystem, including Optech and XVP Engineering, making their collaboration a fast-growing success story.

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