An intra-oral imaging apparatus for obtaining a contour image of a tooth has a fringe pattern generator energizable to emit a fringe pattern illumination. The fringe pattern generator has (i) at least one structured light source that is energizable to emit a patterned light beam； (ii) at least one reflective element in the path of the emitted patterned light beam and actuable to rotate about an axis to scan the emitted patterned light beam along a tooth surface as fringe pattern illumination. A detector is configured to acquire one or more images of the fringe pattern illumination from the tooth surface. A control logic processor is configured to control the fringe pattern generator for illuminating the tooth and to obtain and process the one or more images acquired by the detector.
