Step one
Drop the .dcm
Drag the file the practice sent onto the converter, or pick it from your drive. It opens straight off your own computer.
For dental labs
Convert a 3Shape .dcm file to STL.
A client practice sends a .dcm, the case is already on the schedule, and nobody in the lab has a 3Shape seat. Open the file here and save it as STL or PLY. There is nothing to install, and the scan never leaves your computer.
- dongle
- 3Shape seat
- install
- upload
real scan · loading
01
From .dcm to STL
Three steps, and nothing to install on the lab computer.
Step two
Save the STL
Click STL or PLY, then open the result in exocad, Meshmixer, Blender, or your printer software. Nothing is resized, so millimetres stay millimetres.
Step three
Check the arch
The 3D view is the proof the conversion worked. Turn the arch, zoom in on the margin, and read the size in millimetres before the case goes to the mill.
One person forgetting to switch to STL exports and everything gets snarled up for an hour downstream.
A lab technician, Dental Lab Network
ScanLoupe reads the file your client sent, not a copy someone converted first.
What you save is the same shape you opened: nothing is smoothed, thinned, or repaired, so the case still measures what it measured on the scanner.
Privacy
Patient scans never leave your lab.
There is no upload, no account, and no server. Your own browser opens the file and writes the STL, and the file is gone when you close the tab.
You can check that in a minute. Open the converter, turn off your wifi, and load a case. It still works, because there was never anywhere for the scan to go.
That is how the product is built, not a certificate. ScanLoupe is not a medical device and makes no HIPAA claim. It is a converter that never sends the file anywhere, which is usually the part a compliance officer wants to hear.
Why it matters here
A scan is patient data. Sending one to a web tool hands a copy to a company you have never met, and you cannot take it back.
Nothing you type on this page is stored either. The form at the bottom fills in an email in your own mail app and sends nothing by itself.
02
Will my file open?
Most .dcm files a lab receives convert. One kind does not, and it is worth knowing which you have before you promise a turnaround.
| What the practice sent | What happens |
|---|---|
| A 3Shape scan saved without encryption (ex: model scans, abutment scans) | Converts You see the arch, and you can save it as STL or PLY. |
| A newer TRIOS scan, saved with CE encryption on | Converts The CE format is documented in public, so your browser can decode the file on your own machine. It checks the result against the checksum the file carries before it draws anything. |
| A scan locked with a key from 3Shape's Key Exchange service | Locked That key is handed to licensed software over the network and is not in the file, so no offline reader opens it, this one included. You get told which kind you have instead of a wrong shape. |
| An STL, PLY or OBJ sent along with the case | Opens Useful when the practice already sent you a finished model. |
| A real DICOM file (ex: an x-ray, a CBCT study) | Wrong tool This page converts surface scans of the arch. Radiographs belong in your imaging software. |
| Anything else a 3Shape system wrote | It tells you If a case cannot be read, you are told so and told what to ask for next. It never guesses at a shape. |
When a .dcm is really an x-ray
Two different things use the ending .dcm. One is DICOM, the format x-rays and
CBCT studies come in. The other is a 3Shape scan, which is an HPS file: XML with the mesh
packed inside. They share a file ending and nothing else.
That is why your DICOM viewer gives up on a case from a practice, and why this page will not open a radiograph. Drop either one in and you are told which you have. If it turns out to be a real DICOM image, take it to your imaging software instead.
When a case comes back locked
This is the honest part. Most encrypted scans convert here, because the CE format is documented and the file carries what the decoding needs. A smaller group does not: those were locked with a key from 3Shape's Key Exchange service, which is issued over the network and never travels with the case. Nothing offline opens one of those, and that includes us.
The two are easy to tell apart, because an encrypted file carries a checksum of its own coordinates. If yours is the locked kind, ask the practice for a plain STL, which every 3Shape install can write. You can also send us the file and we will tell you what is in it. What we will not do is guess at a locked case and hand you a shape that measures wrong. Send us a case.
03
Questions
Do I really get an STL out of it?
Yes. Open the .dcm, click STL, and your browser writes the file to your downloads folder. PLY is there too, and it keeps the case's own colours when the scan has them. Nothing is smoothed, thinned, or repaired on the way out, so the shape you save measures the same as the shape you opened.
Does the scan get uploaded anywhere?
No. The converter runs inside your tab and reads the file off your own drive. Nothing about the scan goes over the network. Open it, turn off your wifi, and load a case if you want to watch that for yourself.
Does it convert encrypted CE scans?
Most of them, yes. The CE format was worked out by reverse engineering and published openly by the Open3SDCM project, so the decoding is a known recipe rather than a secret. Your browser runs that recipe on your own machine, then checks the coordinates against the checksum in the file before drawing. We did not break 3Shape's encryption, and we do not need to.
The exception is a case locked through 3Shape's Key Exchange service, where the key arrives over the network and is never in the file. You are told which one you have rather than shown a shape built out of noise.
Why will my DICOM viewer not open the file?
A 3Shape scan ends in .dcm, the same ending x-ray studies use, so imaging
software tries it and gives up. Inside, it is an HPS file: a scan of the arch, not a
radiograph. This page converts the scan, and it does not open radiographs.
The practice sent a .dcm by mistake. What should I ask for?
Ask for a plain STL export. Every 3Shape install can write one, and it takes the person at the scanner about a minute. Meanwhile you can convert the .dcm here and keep the case moving, then compare the two when the STL arrives.
Do I need Dental Desktop, a licence, or a dongle?
No. ScanLoupe is a web page. Anyone you send the link to can convert the case, including a technician on a laptop with no 3Shape seat.
Is ScanLoupe HIPAA certified?
No, and be careful with any converter that says it is. HIPAA applies to organisations, not to software. What we can state as a fact: there is no server, no account, and nothing about the scan is transmitted, so the file never leaves the computer you opened it on. Take that description to your own compliance officer instead of taking a badge from us.
Does it work offline?
The first visit needs a network connection. After that your browser keeps what it needs, and converting a case works either way, because the case is read on your own computer.
How big a case can it handle?
Full arch scans of several megabytes convert fine, and you get a progress bar while they load. A very large case can hold the tab still for a moment before the arch appears.
Get started
Convert a case right now.
Sample scans are built in, including an encrypted one, so you can watch the whole thing work before you go and find a case of your own.