Why Your Camera Might Be Your Most Valuable Diagnostic Tool
Clear communication with your patients and your dental lab makes all the difference in case outcomes—yet words alone often fall short. In today’s digital dentistry protocols, quality photography isn’t just documenting cases; it’s the crucial foundation determining whether your restorations achieve excellence or mediocrity.
Create a Foundation for Predictable Digital Workflows
At RWD Dental Image in Bondi Junction, we’ve partnered with dentists across Australia who’ve transformed their practices through mastering dental photography.
The dentists enjoying the most predictable outcomes understand that what their camera captures directly impacts the results their patients receive, and their photography skills might be the missing link between good results and outstanding ones.
The Digital Gateway to Excellence
Photography is no longer an optional skill for dental professionals—it’s an essential foundation for predictable outcomes in the digital era.
This emphasis on quality imaging isn’t simply about creating beautiful before-and-after galleries. It’s about capturing critical information that drives your treatment planning, laboratory communication, and, ultimately, patient satisfaction.
Essential Equipment and Setup for Your Practice
Investing in the right equipment is crucial for your practice to enhance its photographic capabilities. While smartphone cameras continue to improve, they still cannot replace a dedicated dental photography setup for clinical documentation.The Basic Kit for Your Practice
A standard dental photography kit for your practice should include:- Digital SLR camera with manual settings capability
- Macro lens (typically 100mm or 105mm)
- Ring flash or a dual-point flash system for adequate illumination
- Retractors and contrastors for clear intraoral views
- Standardised backdrop for portrait photography
While this equipment represents an investment, the return in improved diagnostics, communication, and case acceptance makes it worthwhile for your practice.
As Rob Dulieu notes, “It doesn’t take long to do a YouTube training session on portrait photography. Get your settings right, get the background right, and get the frames as a standard distance from the patient.”
Beyond Static Images: The Value of Video in Your Documentation
One of the most valuable and often overlooked aspects of your dental documentation is incorporating video into patient records. Static images capture a moment in time, but video reveals how your patient’s smile functions in real-world scenarios.
“A video is three-dimensional, and we start to see where the lips and the orofacial movements actually occur. And that can sometimes lead to a big change in how we design things for the patients.” ~ Robert Dulieu
This dynamic information is invaluable for your smile design work, as it shows:
- Natural lip dynamics during speech
- The relationship between teeth and lip during various expressions
- Functional movements that static photos cannot capture
A simple smartphone video of your patient counting from 60 to 70 or pronouncing S-sounds can reveal crucial information about incisal edge position, midline dynamics, and smile arc—all essential factors in your comprehensive aesthetic planning.
Clinical Dental Photography Protocol for Your Practice
Consistency is key to effective dental photography in your practice. Establishing a standardised protocol ensures that images captured at different times can be accurately compared and that your laboratory communications have the necessary reference points.
Essential Views for Your Comprehensive Documentation
A complete photographic series for your patients should include:
Extraoral Views:
- Full face at rest (closed lips)
- Full face with full smile
- Profile view
- 45-degree oblique view
- 12 o’clock view (patient looking up at camera)
Intraoral Views:
- Retracted frontal view at maximum intercuspation
- Retracted right and left lateral views
- Occlusal upper and lower views
- Retracted frontal open bite view
Specific Feature Documentation:
- Close-up of anterior teeth with shade tabs
- Occlusal plane at eye level
- Any areas of specific concern
Maintaining consistent distance, angles, and lighting across these images creates a comprehensive visual record that becomes an invaluable reference for both you and our laboratory in Sydney.
From Good to Great: Enhancing Your Photography Skills
Even with the right equipment, developing skill in dental photography takes practice and refinement. At RWD Dental Image, we’ve identified several pathways to photographic excellence for your practice:
Self-Directed Learning
“YouTube is a wonderful starting point ” Rob Dulieu advises for beginners. “There’s lots of YouTube videos on dental photography.” These resources can help establish basic camera settings and techniques for consistent results in your practice.
Professional Development
For those looking to advance their skills further:
- The Australian Dental Association offers specialised courses in dental photography
- Many dental study clubs incorporate photography sessions
- Leading aesthetic dentists often include photography modules in their courses
Collaborative Improvement
Feedback and collaboration are among the most effective ways to improve your skills.
“If we see something that’s a wonderful photograph, we’ll ask you what your settings were” Rob Dulieu explains. “What lenses did you use? Was it a polarised lens? Was it a macro lens? What sort of setup did you use with the flashes? “
This collegial exchange of information benefits the entire dental community and improves outcomes for all your patients.
The Impact on Your Digital Workflows
Beyond documentation, quality dental photography directly impacts the success of digital workflows in your modern practice:
Digital Smile Design
High-quality images are the foundation of any digital smile design process in your practice. Without them, even the most sophisticated software cannot produce accurate or aesthetically pleasing results for your patients.
Remote Collaboration
As your practice increasingly collaborates with specialists and laboratories across distances, clear photography becomes your primary method of communication.
Rob Dulieu shares about a successful collaboration with Perth dentists 3,000 kilometres away from our Bondi Junction laboratory: “Through fantastic photography and excellent communication, we were able to work a case up digitally, share those files with our dentists, who then shared those files with their patients.”
Treatment Outcomes
When our laboratory technicians can clearly see colour gradations, surface texture, and surrounding dentition from your photos, we can create restorations that blend seamlessly with your patient’s natural teeth. This level of detail is only possible with excellent photography from your practice.
Practical Implementation for Your Busy Practice
Integrating comprehensive photography into your busy practice requires systems and delegation. Consider these practical approaches:
Team Training
Train multiple team members in basic photography to ensure consistency regardless of who captures the images. This creates redundancy and prevents delays when specific team members are unavailable.
Streamlined Protocols
Develop a systematic approach that minimises chair time while maximising information capture. With practice, your team can capture a complete series in under five minutes.
Digital Management
Establish clear protocols for image management, storage, and transmission to laboratories and specialists. Cloud-based solutions can facilitate secure sharing while maintaining patient privacy.
Photography as an Investment in Your Practice
Quality dental photography represents an investment for your practice—not just in equipment, but in time and training. However, the returns on this investment are substantial:
- Improved case acceptance through enhanced patient communication
- More predictable outcomes through detailed laboratory instructions
- Reduced remakes and adjustments through clear communication
- Enhanced clinical documentation for medico-legal purposes
- Ongoing professional development through case analysis
“Photographs really are the starting point of a wonderful digital journey.” ~ Rob Dulieu
By embracing excellence in dental photography, your practice creates the foundation for exceptional digital workflows that benefit your patients, team, and laboratory partners across Australia and beyond.
At RWD Dental Image, we remain committed to supporting dental professionals throughout Australia in developing these essential skills through ongoing education and collaboration from our Sydney base. Together, we can ensure that the foundation of your digital workflows—quality photography—enables the exceptional results your patients deserve.
Contact our team in Bondi Junction today for more information about RWD Dental Image’s photography workshops or to discuss how we can help optimise your practice’s photographic protocols.
