Dental Photography

Why should you take photos?
1. document existing conditions
2. communication with faculty
3. before / after comparison

What photos should you take?
The AACD have setup specifications for photography in dentistry. I like their recommendations, but I also take two additional shots
of the posterior buccal surfaces.

Stuff you'll need:
1. Mouth mirrors (buccal and occlusal)
2. cheek retractors
3. camera
4. assistant

Shot sequence:
1. full face smiling 1:15
2. comissure to comissure 1:5
3. retracted MIP 1:5
4. Maxillary anteriors 1:1
5&6. buccal mirror (R&L) 1:5
7. Maxillary occusal mirror 1:5
8. Mandibular occusal mirror 1:5



Step by step:

1. Take images 1,2,& 3. Have the patient pull the cheek retractors forward to get a better view of the attached gingiva.
2. When the mirrors come back from sterilization they usually
have streaks and smudges that you'll need to rinse away. Make sure to use warm water to reduce the fog from the patient breathing on the mirror surface. On your way back from the sink grab an assistant
3. Have your gloved assist stand behind the patient with the mirror
in one hand and the A/W syringe in the other.
4. Tell the patient to open wide and breath through their nose. Have your assistant slide the mirror into the vestibule. Ask the
patient place place the cheek retractor on their opposite cheek only then close to MIP.
5. Have your assistant give one last blast of air then move the syringe then taking the picture making sure all the teeth are in focus from front to back.
6. To take the maxillary occulsal image have your assistant slide the mirror in parallel with mandibular teeth. Line up so you have
all the teeth in the image and in focus. Have the assistant give a
blast of air then retract the upper lip. Take the image and then
follow the same sequence for the mandibular teeth.

Tips and Tricks:
1. For image 3 have the patient pull the cheek reatractors forward to stretch the cheek and reduce the amount of distracting
structures from the image.
2. To reduce fog: warm the mirror, have the patient breeth through their nose, use air syringe.
3. Use cheek retractor to retract opposite cheek when taking
images 5 & 6.
4. Have assistant retract lips when taking occlusal images to get
a view incisal contour.

Next Visit:
In the next couple of posts I'll go into some of the specifics on Camera Settings and the concepts of Depth of Field and Magnification.