GUIDE TO DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY

This brief overview of dental photography will discuss the history, and importance of clinical dental photography, and why it has become an essential skill required for all members of the dental team, in particular for dentists.

HISTORY OF DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Lester A.Dine invented the Ringflash in 1952 for the use of Dentists. For many years the quality of clinical images was highly variable, due to the technical difficulties of film photography, and the lack of high quality training in dental photography technique. Canon launched the EOS D30, Digital SLR Camera in 2000, this was seen as the first affordable digital SLR camera (approx. £2000 at the time) and the revolution in Digital Dental Photography started. It was suddenly possible to take as many images as the dentist wanted without the cost of film and processing costs, it was suddenly possible for educators such as the founder of P4D to give live demonstrations of technique, and run hands-on courses. The learning curve to being a great dental photographer was suddenly cut from years to weeks or even days. As digital camera bodies became reasonably priced, less than £500 more and more dentists becomes enthused to invest in the equipment and training, and this growth in dental photography mirrored the growth in Aesthetic Dentistry, the growth of the Internet and the importance of Marketing for dentists, and in addition the Medicolegal documentation required for elective treatments.

USES OF DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY

High Quality Photography has a huge number of applications within a dental setting, examples include:

• Medicolegal Documentation

• Monitoring of Conditions, e.g. toothwear, crowding

• Laboratory Communication

• Professional Education

• Treatment Planning

• Patient Communication

• Patient Education

• Co-diagnosis

• Digital Smile Design

• Practice Portfolio

• Professional Portfolios

• Marketing Images

• Self Improvement

• Specialist Referrals

• Staff training

• Professional Examinations

DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

While Smartphone cameras have improved considerably, and can take truly amazing photographs they are ill suited to clinical photography, due to depth-of-field, reproducibility, and potential confidentiality issues. The idea initial setup for members of the dental team is:

• Digital SLR Camera

• Macro Lens (100mm ideal)

• Ringflash

Once this setup has been mastered some clinicians may require higher quality images, this is mainly for presentation purposes, for example lectures, text books, marketing images. The main thing to then consider is the addition of a twin flash system, with the use of a bracket system and diffusers or bouncers for the light source. A Ringflash when used correctly can provide fantastic images in a small affordable package, however the light can give a somewhat flat image, the use of a more sophisticated lighting system can provide greater clarity and a more three-dimensional photograph.

CAMERA SETTINGS REQUIRED

DSLR’s, 100mm Macro Lens, Ringflash These recommendations should see you taking high quality photographs very quickly, you may then need to make minor adjustments for situations such as shade communication, this is normally by reducing the flash output by 1/3 or 2/3. You will probably need to refer to your camera and flash instruction manuals for how to modify these settings.

Focus Mode | MANUAL If you use autofocus then the magnification ratio will change constantly and therefore there will be no consistency with your photographs. It is best to dial in the required magnification ratio on the barrel of the lens and then focus manually.

Exposure | Manual (M) For reproducibly and efficiency you will need to tell the camera both the shutter speed and the aperture, therefore you will need to set the exposure mode to Manual.

Shutter speed | 1/200 This will prevent any blur caused by movement of either you or the patient.

Aperture | f/22 This small aperture opening will ensure maximum depth of field and therefore your image should be in focus. Use f11 for portraits.

ISO | 100 ISO measures the sensitivity of the digital sensor. The lower the number then the less sensitive the sensor is light and the less “noise” created. However if you are using a less powerful flash unit then ISO 200 or 400 will give more than good enough results.

White balance | FLASH The Colour Temperature of the image is hugely important. Custom White Balance using a Grey Card will give the most accurate colour reproduction, but as a good starting point and for most people the only setting needed will be White Balance set to “FLASH”.

Image quality | RAW & LARGE FINE JPEG Although shooting in both RAW and Large Fine JPG will take up more memory I prefer it. The RAW image will act as a “digital negative”, the JPG can be edited, emailed, used on a practice website etc.

Ringflash | ETTL Evaluative-Through The Lens (ETTL) is a Canon EOS flash exposure system that uses a brief pre-flash before the main flash in order to obtain a more correct exposure. This gives excellent results in most cases, however modification to the Flash Exposure Compensation might need to be made to cope with use of Contrasters and metallic objects such as shade tab holders.

Flash Exposure Compensation | +1/3 For most views but may need to adjust accordingly, see Ringflash ETTL above.

CONSENT FOR DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Consent can be implied, verbal, or written. Written consent is recommended and for many uses is a legal requirement. To download an example of a consent form for dental photography visit the .pdf Downloads section of this website.

HOW DO I LEARN MORE, TIPS, TRICKS, & TECHNIQUES IN DENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY?

Learn all the essentials Online, become a Master by attending a Hands-on course, or by inviting Ian to your practice.