This guide is for dental, dental hygiene and dental assisting students, and for faculty planning an anatomy or pre-clinical teaching programme. The short answer: split the market in two. Students can use some tools on their own: 3D Tooth Atlas (a trial download and a free app unlocked by in-app purchase) and ImageJ/Fiji (free and open source) for radiograph exercises. Primal Pictures sits in between: it is licensed to institutions, so students normally reach it through their library or faculty. The Anatomage Table and the Simodont Dental Trainer are hardware systems that schools buy. There is no download, free edition or demo software for either, whatever search results suggest.
The commercial tools here do not publish institutional prices, so this page compares what each one does, who pays for it and what it needs, not what it costs.
The short list
| Program | Best for | Licence | Platforms | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D Tooth Atlas 10 | Tooth morphology self-study and teaching | Shareware (conditionally free) | Windows, macOS, iPad, Apple Silicon Mac, Vision Pro, VR | Current: version 10, 2026 |
| Primal Pictures (Anatomy.tv) | Head, neck and dental anatomy for whole programmes | Shareware (conditionally free): institutional licence, free institutional trial | Web browser, VR headset browser; quiz app for iOS and Android | Continuously updated; Dentistry VR added Aug 2026 |
| ImageJ / Fiji | Measurement exercises on radiographs and histology | Free, open source (public domain / GPL) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Current: ImageJ 1.54t, May 2026 |
| Anatomage Table | Virtual dissection labs | Commercial, sold with hardware; no free download | Anatomage Table hardware | Current: Table 12, Oct 2025 |
| Simodont Dental Trainer | Haptic pre-clinical skills training | Commercial, sold with hardware; no free download | Simodont V3 units | Current: V4.22, 2025 |
3D Tooth Atlas
3D Tooth Atlas by eHuman is the tool a first-year student can realistically buy and use alone. Version 10 has more than 500 rotatable tooth models, an interactive dental anatomy course, quizzes, and modules on periodontology, odontogenesis and embryology. New in version 10 are a Tooth Arrangement Simulator, custom annotations and extra periodontium content. The Windows download starts in trial mode, and the Tooth Atlas 10 app for iPad, Apple Silicon Macs and Vision Pro is a free download with the full atlas unlocked by in-app purchase. Schools license it at academic rates on request. Limits: it covers teeth and supporting tissues, not the wider head and neck, and it opens no patient images. Make sure you install version 10, not the older 8 or 9 still listed in searches.
Primal Pictures (Anatomy.tv)
Primal Pictures delivers 3D anatomy in the browser through Anatomy.tv, so there is nothing to install. Its dentistry content covers head and neck anatomy, tooth microanatomy, the temporomandibular joint in motion, cranial nerve pathways for local anaesthesia, and radiology shown beside the 3D models. Dentistry VR, announced in August 2026, runs in the browser of standard VR headsets. Faculty can embed models and quizzes in the learning management system. It is licensed to institutions; free demos and trials are for institutions and companies only. Students sign in through their university (including OpenAthens or UK Shibboleth) or use the free-to-download 3D Human Anatomy Quiz app, which includes the hand region only. Choose it when a programme needs head-and-neck depth, not just teeth.
ImageJ / Fiji
ImageJ and its plugin-rich distribution Fiji are free, open-source image-analysis programs that any student can install on Windows, macOS or Linux. They are research and teaching tools, not clinical viewers, and no regulatory clearance is claimed. For dental courses they turn radiographs, histology slides and clinical photographs into measurement exercises: calibrate, measure, export, analyse. Published dental studies have used ImageJ for relative bone density on panoramic radiographs and, with the BoneJ plugin, for trabecular analysis on periapical radiographs in an animal implant model. Limits: DICOM support is partial, there is no dental reformatting, and measurements are only as good as the calibration. Install Fiji in your user folder, not in Program Files.
Anatomage Table
The Anatomage Table is a life-size touchscreen virtual dissection system with digitised real human cadavers. The software comes on Anatomage hardware; there is no download, trial or “EDU free demo”, only scheduled demonstrations from the vendor. Table 12, announced on 2 October 2025, added a sixth cadaver, multi-cadaver comparison and a virtual skeleton with joint motion. For dental students it is strongest in head and neck classes: isolating the mandible, muscles of mastication, vessels and nerves layer by layer. A dental arch simulation supports occlusion teaching, and DICOM-capable models link anatomy to CT. It does not teach tooth preparation or treatment planning. It is a capital purchase that needs room planning, so it fits schools that share it with medical or health-science programmes.
Simodont Dental Trainer
The Simodont Dental Trainer from Nissin Dental Products is a haptic virtual-reality simulator for pre-clinical skills. Students cut with a force-feedback handpiece and foot pedal, feel the difference between enamel, dentine and pulp, and practise indirect vision with a virtual mirror. Courseware covers manual dexterity, caries removal, crown preparation, endodontics, periodontics and, since V4.18, implant drilling. TrueTeethLab converts CBCT or micro-CT scans into practice teeth. The current release is V4.22. There is no “academic edition”, download or free version: software runs only on Simodont units bought by institutions, and the official downloads section holds manuals and release notes only. It supplements phantom-head and clinical training rather than replacing it.
What students can use themselves, and what schools buy
- On your own device, no school involved: ImageJ/Fiji (free) and 3D Tooth Atlas (trial or free app, full atlas paid).
- Through your school’s licence: Primal Pictures. Ask the library or anatomy department whether Anatomy.tv dentistry content is included before paying for anything.
- Only in a school lab: the Anatomage Table and Simodont. Access comes through timetabled sessions; there is nothing to install at home.
For faculty, the cost picture differs by type. Software licences (3D Tooth Atlas, Primal Pictures) are quoted per institution on request. Hardware systems (Anatomage, Simodont) are capital purchases with room planning, instructor training and upgrade scheduling on top; neither vendor publishes prices.
Radiograph exercises with ImageJ
These exercises use only functions documented for ImageJ and Fiji, on anonymised images approved for teaching:
- Calibration. Open a radiograph with an object of known size, draw a line over it and set the scale with Analyze > Set Scale, or use the pixel spacing stored in a DICOM file. Discuss why an uncalibrated image gives pixels, not millimetres.
- Linear measurement. Measure crestal bone levels relative to an implant shoulder with the straight-line tool and angulations with the angle tool, pressing M after each measurement. Export the Results table as CSV and compare measurements between students.
- Relative gray values. Draw a region of interest over periapical bone and a reference region such as cortical bone, record mean gray values and compare them. Point out that exposure and processing change gray values, so only images taken under the same conditions are comparable.
- Histology. Threshold a stained section to measure the area fraction of new bone versus graft material, or count cells with Analyze Particles.
Keep the teaching message clear: this is quantitative practice for research methods, not diagnosis.
How to choose
- Student learning tooth morphology: start with 3D Tooth Atlas on a trial or the free app, and ask whether your school already licenses it.
- Student studying head and neck anatomy or nerve blocks: check library access to Primal Pictures first.
- Student or researcher writing a thesis with radiograph measurements: install Fiji.
- School building an anatomy lab shared with medicine: arrange an Anatomage demonstration and plan the room.
- School building a pre-clinical simulation lab: ask Nissin for a Simodont demonstration and plan instructor training on the teacher software.
- Any school: confirm platform needs (Apple devices, VR headsets, browsers) and single sign-on before signing a licence.
FAQ
Can I download the Anatomage Table software?
No. It ships only with Anatomage hardware; there is no PC download, trial or free online version. Access comes through a school or simulation centre that owns a Table.
Is there a free Simodont version for students?
No. Simodont software runs only on Simodont units purchased by institutions. There is no academic edition or download.
Is 3D Tooth Atlas free?
No. It is shareware (conditionally free): the Windows download includes a trial, and the App Store app is free to download, with the full atlas unlocked by in-app purchase.
How do students get Primal Pictures?
Through their institution’s Anatomy.tv licence, often via OpenAthens or Shibboleth. Without one, the free quiz app offers the hand region only.
What free software can dental students use?
ImageJ/Fiji is fully free and open source. It is excellent for measurement exercises, but it is not an anatomy atlas.
Anatomage Table or Simodont: which does a dental school need?
They solve different problems. The Anatomage Table teaches anatomy by virtual dissection; Simodont trains hand skills with haptic feedback. A school may need both, for different courses.
Last updated: 29 September 2026 · SoftProDents editorial team. Licence, version and platform details are checked against each developer's official documentation; none of the tools listed here should be treated as a certified medical device unless its vendor says so.
