Documentation
Let’s talk about documentation – there are lots of different ways to get to the end result, but the main way we document cases is either through photography or video. Both work, and obviously both will give you great results if you want to share cases. However, the first thing you have to decide is who do you want to share the information with? Patients or doctors?
If you want to document cases to show patients, my suggestion is to stick with photography. Video will be complex and "gross" to most patients because, well, video is gross. You will be documenting cases, procedures, the blood and guts of the procedure, and frankly, most patients don’t want to see it. If you are going to be documenting cases for patients, just stick with before-and-after photos. To do this, you need a camera. GET A GOOD ONE. You have two choices: Canon and Nikon. Both work well. With each camera, you will need a camera body, a macro lens and a flash source.
With regard to the camera body, there are lots of great choices from both Canon and Nikon. Get something in the "prosumer" range. For Canon, the Rebel series is nice. With Nikon, the D7000 is a good, newer-generation camera. The body is where you will take all your photos and where you will store your images.
The newer cameras are easy to use and just give great pictures. No need to go super fancy here – keep it simple, stick to one of the models I recommended, and you will be fine.
Next up: the lens. You need a macro lens – this allows you to get close up to the subject, and also allows you to zoom in on the teeth. With a 100 mm lens, you can zoom into about 2-4 teeth. These lenses are a bit heavier, so for some of your team members, you may want to get a 60 mm lens instead. A bit lighter but you can only go to about 4-6 teeth in the closest range. In the past, this would have been a problem, but with the ability to zoom in and crop digital photos, 60 mm will work well for many offices.
The last thing you need is a flash, specifically a ring flash. Without a ring flash, the light will not light up the inside of the mouth. The flash on top of the camera just won’t work. The flash needs to be on the front of the lens so it illuminates the mouth properly. Canon and Nikon both have nice options for this. The Canon is shown below.
When you put the whole thing together, you get the following set up:
Yes, these systems are a bit heavy for some, but the pictures are worth it. You also need to get appropriate retractors and mirrors, as everything in the mouth will be imaged through a mirror. For the set-up shown, you can expect to spend about $1,500-$2,500. If you know anything about cameras, buy off the internet – www.amazon.com or www.bhphoto.com are great websites to buy stuff. Great prices; excellent service. I’m partial to BH Photo myself, as I’ve bought a bunch of stuff from them. In my opinion, they are literally the best camera store in the world!
If you have no clue with regard to running a camera, go to www.photomed.net, a dental specialty store with the set-ups ready to go. They will even give you a loaner and set your camera right. You will pay a bit more, but in my opinion the service is worth it.
Now that you have your camera, what settings should you use? Here are the settings I use to get the best photos:
- Set the camera on “manual” mode
- Flash: Should be set at TTL (through-the-lens metering)
- F-stop: 29 – This means you have “deep” depth of field (meaning everything from the front of the mouth to the back of the mouth is in focus)
- Shutter speed: 125 – This means the shutter is open for 1/125th of a second
These settings work well to give you the proper exposure and a good photo.
If you want to video tape procedures, my next post will be on video options for the dental practitioner.
