Technical Prerequisites for Digital Photography
For processing digital pictures in the dental practice the following equipment is needed:
—Camera (Figs. 34 and 36).
—PC with fast graphic card and a large RAM (preferably 64 MB or more RAM).
—Software: The most frequently used image-processing software is Adobe PhotoShop. For dental applications, a “light” version is available. However, the complexity of these programs should not be underestimated.
—Color printers: Most color printers by Canon, HP, Citizen, or Lexmark are suitable for printing the pictures immediately. The printer has become the most affordable component of the entire digital system.
35 Digital camera systems (amateur systems)
Technical specifications.
Summary
Digital technology is undoubedly the future of photography. Within a few years we will see the film as a medium for photography become a relic from the early days of photography. Digital photography offers fantastic possibilities: the pictures can be printed out immediately, text can be inserted (e.g., a treatment plan), and these pictures can be transferred using a modem.
However, the biggest advantage of processing the images directly is at the same time associated with some major risks: a digital image that has been altered cannot be distinguished from an original picture. Today, many dental presentations in the international continuing education circus are already using digital images. Hardly a printed medium still contains unmodified original pictures. The pictures are digitized when they are scanned into the computer and then they can easily be reworked using image processing software. The gingiva from one tooth site can be spliced electronically and inserted at another tooth site, tooth color can be altered ... the way has been opened for liars and cheaters, and it is appropriate to be doubtful when the results are all too perfect. Therefore, digital technology may also be a great danger for photography.
When one decides to buy a system for the practice, one should not automatically decide in favor of digital photography systems. One must be familiar with such solutions and want to solve problems associated with the computer and their programs. The existing image processing programs are still very complex. That means that digital photography can soon become frustrating. At the moment, therefore, the computer lay person should stick to conventional photography.
APS technology has some advantages over the classic 35-mm film. However, it also requires a particular film development process that is not available everywhere. If there is only a 1-hour development photo laboratory nearby, the conventional film is more advantageous. The decision to choose APS technology with its peripherals and the different formats should mostly depend on whether or not a photo laboratory close by can develop the new film system within a few days.
36 Further example of a digital camera: Fujix DS-220
This camera not only has an optical viewfinder but also an LCD display. It can be used for photography in the macro range.
It is important to develop experience of photography. A patient education album with one's own exposures can be put together. Such documentation has great power of persuasion. For example, the photos can be printed in a patient newsletter. The future of a successful dental practice lies in which treatment alternatives the practice can offer to patients. An active marketing of the performance spectrum of the practice is necessary. An important prerequisite is an extensive archive with one's own, good-quality pictures.
Dentists also can determine their own quality performance by studying the photographs they take. By regularly reviewing their own treatment cases, critical observers can assess the regular ups and downs of normal human capability and their own mastery of the art of dentistry.
Finally, dental photography is used for documentation in forensic cases. In the United States, the oversupply of lawyers has turned into the “lawyer plague” for physicians and dentists. A similar development is occuring in other countries.
Thus, to successfully integrate photography into the dental practice, the dentist and the dental assistant need to learn how to handle the camera just as well as they now handle radiographic equipment.
Intraoral Cameras
Originally purely a discipline geared at eliminating pain, dentistry has evolved into a discipline with many different complex treatment procedures. This change is, to a great extent, due to the longer life expectancy of people (see also: The Future of Dentistry, p. 279). The transition from symptomatic treatments to patient-preferred treatments requires extensive patient education by dentists and their staff. Practices in which there is no active patient education have recorded a decline in treatment activity; this is because of the general decrease in caries activity that has occurred in the population. In contrast, practices that provide extensive patient education have demonstrated fast and impressive growth and an increased use of new treatment techniques.
37 Intraoral camera system (e. g., Reveal)
Does not every dentist like to practice state-of-the-art dentistry? For each tooth defect there are various restorative methods that have different prognoses and prices. Therefore, it is important that the dentist shows patients the status quo of their teeth and demonstrates the different treatment options. Intraoral cameras are imperative for these presentations.
Use of Intraoral Cameras
In the late 1950s and the 1960s, different presentation techniques found their way into dental education. Video technology with close-up images was used to demonstrate treatment methods. Nowadays, video technology has become both a teaching and learning tool in all areas of education and training. Numerous training programs—used also in dentistry—are nowadays supported by instructional videos.
Dentists are somewhat restrained in their use of video technology in patient education. A possible reason is that the pain-oriented dentistry practiced earlier, which was primarily therapy-oriented, did not require any detailed patient education. However, because of the changes that have occurred in dentistry, new methods are needed for patient education, including video technology. Since the 1970s, many health-related organizations have developed films targeting patient education. This method of education is meaningful and should be used by all dentists.
38 Computer-based patient information
A patient wishes to have his/her teeth bleached. One can demonstrate the status quo by means of this picture.
Right: Newsletters are not only brochures for the practice, but are also useful for informing patients about certain treatments or as a marketing tool. However, it must be remembered that brochures distributed by the industry are often of questionable value.
39 Computer-generated simulation of the treatment goal
Tooth color can be brightened on the screen according to the patient's wishes. The dentist can then determine whether it is possible to do justice to the patient's ideas using the available methods. If this is not possible, the dentist can demonstrate a more realistic treatment goal to the patient before treatment starts.
In