原先的牙科口镜可以帮助牙医来检查患者的口腔情况，但是由于它只是由一面凹面镜构成，只能帮助牙医放大口腔的情况，而病人很难在诊疗的时候看到自己口腔内的具体情况，这会导致病人由于未知产生一定的恐慌心理，从而排斥牙医提供的诊疗方案。
The original dental mouth mirror helped the dentist to examine the patient’s mouth, but as it consisted of a concave mirror, it only helped the dentist to zoom in on the mouth, and it was difficult for the patient to see what was going on inside his mouth during the consultation, which led to a certain amount of fear and rejection of the treatment options offered by the dentist due to the unknown.
庆幸的是随着科技的进步，牙科口镜也产生了新一轮的变革。2019年2月4日，OmniVision和SMARTmirror共同推出了世界上第一个具有Wi-Fi功能的智能牙科镜，该智能牙科镜可以将图像和视频实时发送到连接的平板电脑上，这可以让牙医和患者同时看到病人口腔内的情况，完美解决了牙科口镜存在的问题1。
Thankfully as technology advances, a new wave of change has been created in dental mouth mirrors. on 4 February 2019, OmniVision and SMARTmirror jointly launched the world’s first smart dental mirror with Wi-Fi capability, which sends images and video in real time to a connected tablet, this allows the dentist and patient to see both the patient inside the mouth, perfectly solving a problem that exists with dental mouth mirrors1.
智能牙科镜的外形与牙科口镜并无较大的差别，只是将牙科口镜的凹面镜部分改成了带有LED照明灯的高分辨率相机。智能牙科镜不单单可以满足患者实时看到自己口腔内情况的需求，而且也增加了其他功能便利了牙医的工作，比如可以随时截图口腔内的情况、录制口腔内情况的视频等，这些功能都可以帮助牙医更好地复盘病患的情况。除此之外，智能牙科镜对牙科口镜的镜子也进行了改良，采用蓝宝石镜子，防刮伤，不会起雾。
The Smart Dental Mirror is not significantly different from a dental mouth mirror, except that the concave mirror part of the mirror has been replaced with a high-resolution camera with LED lighting. The Smart Dental Mirror not only meets the patient’s need to see what is going on in their mouth in real time, but also adds other features to facilitate the dentist’s work, such as the ability to take screenshots and record videos of what is going on in the mouth at any time, all of which help the dentist to better review the patient’s condition. In addition to this, the Smart Dental Mirror has improved the mirror of the dental mouth mirror with a sapphire mirror that is scratch resistant and will not fog up.
截止目前，主要有两家公司致力于智能牙科镜的研究，即上文提到的两家公司，一家是OmniVision，另一家是SMARTmirror。OmniVision是一家成立于1995年的技术公司，公司一直走在数字成像的革命前沿，公司技术的应用领域非常广泛包括汽车、医学、流动装置、保安、物流网以及计算。在智能牙科镜方面，公司主要提供的是OVM6946 CameraCubeChipTM, OVM6946是一个用于医疗应用的小型摄像模块，该模块采用了Cameracuhiptm晶圆级模块技术，而且OVM6946相机模块是基于OmniVision的OmniBSI+TM像素结构构成的，可以以30fps的帧率捕捉400×400分辨率的视频，提供120度的对角线视场，以及从3毫米到无穷远的对焦范围。该模块尺寸为1.05 x 1.05 x 2.27 mm，因此足够小，可以无缝嵌入4毫米厚的SMARTmirror2。总的来说，OmniVision凭借其强大的技术优势，为SMARTmirror提供了主要的技术支撑，而SMARTmirror则致力于智能牙科镜的设计和产品的推广。
To date, there are two main companies working on smart dental mirrors, the two mentioned above, OmniVision and SMARTmirror, a technology company founded in 1995 that has been at the forefront of the digital imaging revolution and whose technology is used in a wide range of applications including automotive, medical, mobile, security, logistics networks and computing. mobile devices, security, logistics networks and computing. In the area of smart dental mirrors, the company offers the OVM6946 CameraCubeChipTM, a small camera module for medical applications using Cameracuhiptm wafer-level module technology, and the OVM6946 camera module is based on OmniVision’s OmniBSI+TM pixel structure. TM pixel architecture composition, capturing 400×400 resolution video at a frame rate of 30fps, providing a diagonal field of view of 120 degrees and a focus range from 3mm to infinity. The module measures 1.05 x 1.05 x 2.27 mm and is therefore small enough to be seamlessly embedded in the 4 mm thick SMARTmirror2. In summary, OmniVision, with its strong technical strengths, provides the main technical support for SMARTmirror, which in turn is dedicated to the smart dental mirror design and product roll-out.
根据世界卫生组织的报告显示，估计全球约有35亿人患有口腔疾病，其中蛀牙最为常见。在全球范围内，估计共有23亿人患有龋齿，逾5.3亿儿童患有乳牙龋齿3。而智能牙科镜的出现无疑为牙医提供了更便捷的治疗方式，也帮助患者更好地了解自身的牙齿状况，因此智能牙科镜在未来的发展潜力是不容小觑的。SMARTmirror目前正在对200名牙医进行试点测试，使用智能牙科镜进行了2000多次检查和程序，检测完成后将迎来大批量的生产1。随着智能牙科镜技术的不断完善，未来它肯定不会慢慢替代现有的牙科口镜，成为牙医在诊疗时的主流设备，因此我们认为智能牙科镜的市场前景是非常光明的。
According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide suffer from oral disease, with tooth decay being the most common. Globally, an estimated 2.3 billion people suffer from dental caries and more than 530 million children suffer from decayed milk teeth3. The potential of the smart dental mirror for the future is not to be underestimated as it offers dentists a more convenient way to treat patients and help them better understand their dental condition. More than 2,000 examinations and procedures have been performed using the SMARTmirror, and high-volume production will follow once the tests are complete.1 As the technology of the SMARTmirror continues to improve, it is certain that it will not slowly replace existing dental mouth mirrors as the mainstream device for dentists during consultations in the future, so we think the market for the SMARTmirror has a very bright future.
Above insights from Zhou Jia Chong from King’s College London. who currently works as an Associate Consultant at RunningTooth.
以上洞察分析来自伦敦国王学院周佳翀，目前任职于RunningTooth助理顾问。
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