Evaluation of Four 3D Facial Scanning Technologies: From Photogrammetry to Structured-Light Systems in Clinical...

Background/Objectives: Accurate three-dimensional (3D) facial scanning is increasingly important in digital dentistry for diagnosis, treatment planning, and virtual patient creation. Multiple facial scanning technologies are available; however, their metric reliability varies depending on acquisition principles and anatomical orientation. This study aimed to evaluate the trueness, orientation-dependent performance (vertical midline versus horizontal facial measurements), and scanning time of four facial scanning technologies using calibrated manual anthropometry as the reference standard. Methods: Thirty dentate adult participants received adhesive fiducial markers on five predefined facial landmarks. Four linear facial distances were measured clinically using a digital caliper and compared with corresponding measurements obtained from standardized 3D facial scans. Digital measurements were extracted following uniform metric normalization. Inter-examiner reliability, measurement trueness, orientation-related differences, and scanning time were analyzed. Results: Inter-examiner reliability was excellent for both clinical and digital measurements (ICC > 0.93). All facial scanning technologies significantly overestimated manual distances (p < 0.001). The structured-light scanning system showed the smallest deviations (typically <1 mm) and the highest overall accuracy, followed by the depth-fusion system, while photogrammetry-based and NeRF-based approaches demonstrated larger errors, frequently exceeding 2-3 mm. Horizontal facial distances consistently showed greater deviations than vertical midline measurements across all systems. Scanning time differed significantly between technologies, with passive image-based approaches being the fastest and NeRF-based acquisition requiring the longest capture time. Conclusions: Active structured-light facial scanning demonstrated the highest trueness for linear facial anthropometry, whereas passive photogrammetry and NeRF-based approaches showed lower metric trueness and are currently more suitable for educational applications.