The Benefits of Great Dental Photography

Photography is an invaluable, integral and necessary part of dentistry, especially Orthodontics. With the advent and widespread use of digital technology in our practices, imaging has become essential, much easier to incorporate and much more readily accessible.

My favorite new Toy: Canon Rebel SL2

There are various benefits of great photography in the dental practice and reasons everyone should be taking advantage of this wonderfully simple technology:  

1. Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

Intraoral photographs (and sometimes extraoral) are an important and in some areas of dentistry an integral part of patient records. It helps in completing the "entire picture" of a case. They enable the dental practitioner to get an in-depth look of the dentition, soft tissues and the facial structures to address any disharmony. Imaging aids in proper diagnosis and treatment planning.

2. Patient Education and Communication

The old adage is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. How many times have you tried to explain to a patient something about occlusion by using your hands? - placing one hand over the other to represent the jaws? In comparison, in showing them photographs any scenario can be easily and simply explained. 

3. Consultation/Referral to Specialists

It is typical for an Orthodontist to send radiographs in addition to photographs when transferring a case to another Orthodontist. However, it is not typical among the other specialties in dentistry. Photographs add an entirely new dimension to our reports when we send them to our colleagues.  Taking Oral pathology for example, a picture of a soft tissue lesion can enable the pathologist to brainstorm differentials without having the patient in the office.

4. Marketing and Advertising

It is no doubt that beautiful, clear and detailed photographs are eye catching and shows a superior level of professionalism to potential new patients. The quality of your photographs, when placed on your website and/or on your social media pages is your first impression and tells a lot about you and your practice. 

5. Legal Documentation

Our records (including photographs) are legal documents. They can come in handy if (God forbid) theres a malpractice lawsuit or the like. 

6. Self Improvement and Education

We as dentist always strive to improve our skill set. We are lifelong learners and always looking for opportunities to learn, enhance and grow as practitioners.  We can use our photographs to document cases and assess areas that need improving or we can even use it for education purposes among our peers. 

Tech Talk: Practice Advancement

We are most certainly in the technological age and it seems to be moving at lightning speed. How do we keep up?! The dilemma many of us face in our practices is deciding which technology is worth purchasing and will yield the best return on investment (ROI).

We want to keep up with technology to ensure we are providing the best quality care and treatment options for our patients. Moreover, the implementation of technology in our practices (if used to its full potential) enables us to be more efficient and thus increases our potential for growth. These things set our practices apart and make us unique and "more cool" (because c'mon, we are in the information age and we are marketing to millennials). Technology, although it can get pricey, is an excellent way to achieve the growth and marketability that will keep our staff and patients engaged. 

A simple example would be the smart watch. You certainly don't need a smart watch and if you get it just to check the time then you would be missing out on it's many capabilities. A smart watch integrates apps, monitors heart rate, doubles as a fitness tracker, reminds you when you need to stand or breathe, sends/receives messages and phone calls, serves as your personal assistant with voice command and can even be integrated in your dental practice for efficiency.

Liken the smart watch to any other piece of technology you get for your practice. You have to explore it's many capabilities to reap the benefits that it can afford you.

As providers we can incorporate different forms of technology into our practices to stimulate growth. Several are listed below:

 Intraoral Scanners 

Cone Beam CT

3D Printing

Aligner Therapy

In the end, it's up to you to explore the different options to see what would be most beneficial to your practice.  There are many things to take into consideration when contemplating the purchase of new equipment. No matter where your practice is located, the demographics, or even office culture, technology can be used as a means to improve quality of care, efficiency and to increase patient acceptance.