Three-Dimensional Intraoral Scanners in Oral Soft Tissue Diagnosis: A Narrative Review and Conceptual Outlook

Oral soft tissue lesions encompass a wide spectrum of conditions, from benign alterations to potentially malignant disorders and malignancies. Accurate diagnosis and continuous monitoring are vital for timely intervention and improved prognosis. Current diagnostic techniques, visual and tactile examination, two-dimensional (2D) clinical photography, and histopathological analysis when required, remain indispensable but have notable limitations. Visual inspection is subjective, 2D photography cannot reliably capture volumetric or surface-texture changes, and biopsies are invasive and impractical for routine follow-up. This narrative review synthesizes existing evidence on intraoral scanning (IOS) technologies in dentistry and explores their potential application in the documentation and monitoring of oral soft tissue lesions. A narrative literature review was conducted across PubMed, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and Embase databases up to September 20, 2025. Search terms included "intraoral scanner", "oral soft tissue", "oral lesions", "3D imaging", and "teledentistry". Studies describing IOS applications in general dentistry, specialty practice, or soft-tissue imaging were included. Relevant findings were thematically analyzed to assess the feasibility of IOS in oral medicine. IOS offers objective, reproducible, and non-invasive three-dimensional (3D) data acquisition, enabling volumetric lesion monitoring, digital record-keeping, telemedicine integration, and potential artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis. However, technical limitations persist, including motion artifacts, saliva interference, restricted depth penetration, and difficulty capturing highly mobile mucosa. Importantly, no studies to date have directly evaluated IOS for diagnosing oral soft tissue lesions. Integrating high-resolution 3D IOS into oral medicine could enable accurate, repeatable, and non-invasive documentation of soft tissue lesions, supporting longitudinal assessment, diagnosis, patient education, and teleconsultation. Nonetheless, further research addressing training requirements, cost-effectiveness, soft-tissue imaging optimization, and scanner resolution is essential before clinical adoption.