For some time now, photography has become a key tool when carrying out dental and aesthetic dental treatments, since, thanks to it, dentistry professionals can:

  • Graphically document clinical cases and thus facilitate their monitoring.
  • Analyze in detail the oral anatomy of each patient.
  • Communicate with other dental professionals and with the dental laboratory.
  • Visually show patients the treatment that will be applied to them and, in this way, help them to understand it better.

If you want to know more about dental photography, you cannot miss today’s article. We tell you everything you need to do it professionally.

Types of dental photography

It is possible to differentiate between 2 types of dental photography:

intraoral

These images are often used by experts from all specialties of Dentistry . It helps them keep a complete track of their patients’ cases : see where they started from, how the treatment is going or has gone, and what the final result is.

These are made up of:

  • 1 front socket
  • 2 side sockets (left and right)
  • 2 occlusal shots (lower and upper)

Extraoral

They are mainly used in orthodontics, rehabilitation and implantology to capture the patient’s facial characteristics and smile at the beginning of the treatment and compare the changes in the face after completion .

These consist of:

  • 1 front shot with lips at rest
  • 1 frontal shot with a natural smile
  • 1 shot from the right side or profile (and in the case of asymmetry, from both sides)
  • 1 oblique shot or ¾ of both sides of the face

What material is needed for dental photography?

In general, a basic kit for dental photography has the following items:

camera body

It is best to resort to SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses. Today, there are many brands on the market and models suitable for both beginners and experts.

Macro lens (focal 60 to 100 mm)

This lens allows you to set a minimum focus distance and take pictures from very close.

Flash

This is of vital importance due, on the one hand, to the fact that the mouth is a dark cavity and, on the other hand, to the proximity with which the photos are taken. However, the flash that comes standard on cameras does not usually offer really good results, since the lighting is uneven because it is located on the top of the device.

Instead, the use of other types of lighting is recommended, such as:

  • Ring flash: It is circular and is placed around the camera lens.
  • Twin flash: like the previous one, it is an external system and has a ring that is attached to the lens. It has two heads to play with the direction of the light and adjust it to each situation.

Accessories

They are tools that come into contact with the oral cavity of patients (hence the importance of properly sterilizing them after each use) and serve to better take images.

Some of the most commonly used in dental photography sessions are:

  • Retractors: they are used to expose the mouth and teeth by moving the cheeks, lips and tongue apart. They can be plastic or metal.
  • Dental or oral mirrors: they help to see the teeth indirectly, that which is not visible to the naked eye. They are usually of different sizes and, in terms of material, they are made of polished metal or glass covered with a reflective surface.
  • Dental contrast agents: they are accessories of different shapes and sizes that allow you to take photos of the teeth with a black background. They can be aluminum, silicone-coated metal, or plastic.

For dental clinical photography, it is not enough just to have a complete kit. In addition, you must have adequate training such as the one you can acquire at the European University with our Course in Dental Photography .

In it, you will learn to configure your equipment and use it properly, you will develop skills and you will have the opportunity to learn the basic and advanced techniques for taking intraoral and extraoral photographs.