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Picture Perfect Jason Olitsky, DDS

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Promoting the cosmetic side of your practice with photography
by Jason Olitsky, DDS

The ultimate cosmetic dentistry experience begins and ends with photography, and the camera is an integral part of the armamentarium of any cosmetic dentist’s office. Photography serves many purposes in the office from documentation to patient education, but clinical and portrait photography are vastly underutilized in their roles to promote the cosmetic side of the practice. Photography not only helps sell cases, but taking portrait style after pictures embraces the change that your patients have decided to make by investing in cosmetic dentistry. Taking the time to shoot patients’ portraits acknowledges and celebrates their life-changing experience. A camera is not like the other dental instruments in the treatment room with their exact settings and ideal depth cuts. A camera has the ability to create an emotional connection with your patients unlike anything else in your office. In its absence, a huge disconnect is created when trying to promote the cosmetic side of your practice. We need to be aware of our patients’ expectations when they step into our dental office (Figure 1).
The current state of what passes for normal dental marketing is out of sync with what presents as normal for how successful businesses actually market to their customers. A dentist might think it is normal business to spend thousands of dollars a month on marketing the cosmetic side of their practices, but when patients walk in the door, they have no presentable examples of their products to show the buyer. On the other hand, when these same patients walk into another type of business to buy a product, they are bombarded with examples and images of exactly what they came to buy. Logically the first step to a cosmetic advertising campaign would be to photograph as much of the dentists’ own cosmetic dentistry as possible – in the most flattering way – in preparation of meeting the shopping patients’ expectations. This is as much building the brand as it is showcasing the product. The first step to a cosmetic dentistry marketing campaign is to have good quality portrait images and before-and-after clinical pictures to show leads generated from the campaign. Our patients need to know that they are in the right place from the moment they walk in our dental office doors and see portrait shots of our happy patients on the walls to the time they are shown our portfolio albums and clinical images (Figure 2). Not having good, quality before-and-after images to show patients in an album or on a computer screen creates a disconnect with the expensive marketing campaign that brought them in the door.


Creating Brand Cohesion
The quality and style of the photography displayed to patients aids in developing the office image. Standardizing your portrait photography helps to create a collection, or a look similar to other beauty and fashion brands that make them recognizable by the public. The collection that is developed depends on the personality of the dentist and the practice. It should create a cohesion among marketing materials and office experience. The quality of the photography should represent the quality of the dentistry.

In other words, your photographic images should promote the brand (Figure 3). The key to creating a strong brand message is consistency. Every patient interaction should tell the same story, from the patients’ first contact with the office to their follow-up care. A disconnect between the office environment and the actual marketing message is created when dentists advertise using good quality classic, elegant or contemporary stock images of beautiful people smiling, but the patient experiences an office atmosphere that is outdated and void of any good quality portrait or before-and-after images.


Portraits Create Emotional Connections
Portrait photography of your patients is your chance to show off the feeling of what it is like to experience cosmetic dentistry at your practice. Consumers make their decisions emotionally, instantly and permanently, and great photography enables us to make emotional connections with our patients. When we are taking a picture for clinical documentation it looks completely different than a picture taken to create an emotional connection with our patients. A standard 1:10 shot on a clean background taken before and after is a great way to document cases for our records and for the lab communication, but it doesn’t even compare with how our patients are used to seeing products advertised (Figure 4). Successful businesses capitalize on making an emotional connection with potential customers through photographic images displayed in ads, websites and walls. When you walk into a car dealership, there are perfectly waxed and detailed cars on the show room floor and pictures of their cars hanging on the walls taken in places you will never go in your new car. Flip through any magazine and feast your eyes on advertisements that feature beauty products and you will behold images of women who are visibly perfect, and pictures shot in ideal lighting that makes the skin glow and the eyes sparkle. The consumer is trained to see company products glorified by artistry and crave their offerings. These types of advertisements create emotional connections with the consumer. Displaying pictures of your patients on your walls, albums, Web sites and advertisements with make-up and hair done smiling, laughing and having a good time, is like selling a sports car with pictures of it racing down the freeway on a perfect evening with no speed limit or traffic. Using photography to promote the cosmetic side of the practice is successfully achieved by studying examples set by other industries outside of dentistry. Getting our patients up out of our dental chairs to take after-shots can level the playing field with the other consumer beauty products and high-ticket items drawing in our potential patients.


In the Studio
Regardless of your style, getting your patients to open up in front of the camera is what will make your images stand out (Figure 5). The secret to getting great shots of your patients is in your communication during the shoot. Getting a picture of your patient who is smiling, because they are happy looks different than if you just ask them to smile. Relax your patients by talking to them and prompt them to talk about how happy they are with their new smile. Try to capture your patients’ image while they are laughing. Make them laugh naturally and if that fails, do not be afraid to ask them to laugh. Nine times out of 10, when you ask patients to laugh, they will end up laughing naturally anyway. When you smile and laugh a lot when shooting your patients, they will be more likely to mirror your behavior and it will be easier to capture a great shot. Consider using props, like fans, to change the dynamics in a studio and set a different mood (Figure 6). Immediately after a shoot, pick up a video camera (new cameras like the Cannon 5D Mark II have outstanding video capabilities), and capture a video testimonial for promotional purposes. Only ask the patient one or two questions to make it quick and give them the opportunity to answer the same question multiple times for editing purposes (see exclusive video testimonial footage of Shylo and other patients on www.smilestylist.tv).


Clinical Photography Displays the Product
Does your marketing match your skills? Clinical photography is your chance to show patients your cosmetic treatments. Each case you perform in your office is a chance to build your portfolio to show future consults. The idea would be to not waste any case. Every cosmetic patient is an opportunity to build the portfolio. If the cosmetic result won’t look good enough to put in the portfolio, it is a wasted case and each one counts when building an impressive portfolio to back up claims of being a source for cosmetic dentistry. Use the AACD accreditation series as a guide to get standardized photos of each patient before and after cosmetic procedures are preformed. Consider taking 1:1 shots with a black backdrop to focus on the teeth and not be distracted by the rest of the mouth (Figure 7). Images taken can be used later to show future patients a clinical case that resembles their own dental situation. To further create an emotional connection with the patient, pair the before and after picture with the personal story of the patient who received the cosmetic dentistry and how happy they are now.


Put it Into Action
An accumulation of great clinical and portrait pictures needs to be properly displayed to promote the practice. Get the images off the memory cards and hard drives and put them in front of potential patients. Social networking is an opportunity to utilize pictures to show people you are passionate about cosmetic dentistry. Update Web site galleries frequently with new pictures and utilize your images throughout the whole site. Create interactive slide shows set to music with your pictures and run it in the reception room or burn it to a DVD and give it to consults to watch at home or their office. Print books with your before-and-after pictures with some content about the dentist and cosmetic services offered at the practice to have in the office or give away to cosmetic consults. Hang portrait pictures all over the office walls to promote cosmetic dentistry to patients the moment they walk in the door.


Conclusion
We are doing patients a tremendous disservice if we are not showing them, through photography, how happy they will be with a beautiful new confident smile. It is easy to stand out from a growing mass of dentists who market cosmetic dentistry, but do not properly showcase their work. While most dentists provide mediocre before-and-after images of cosmetic dentistry on their Web sites and in their offices, it is worth the time and effort to develop great photography skills to show off your amazing results. Make your pictures different. Make them stand out from the crowd. Create an element of style to your portrait after shots that gives patients a reason to choose you (Figure 8).








Author's Bio
Dr. Jason Olitsky, The Smile Stylist, is an accreditation candidate with the AACD as well as on the board of directors for the Florida Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He was a clinical Mentor with the Hornbrook Group and is currently faculty with the Gold Dust Clinical Mastery Series. Jason currently works three days a week with his wife and partner, where 95 percent of their production is based off large cosmetic cases. They started Wallsmiles.com a site that sells wall art for the dental office and teaches dentists how to get their own patients’ pictures on their walls and created Smile Stylist, a brand committed to promoting, providing and maintaining beautiful smiles for the fashion-forward customer. SmileStylist is a registered trademark in the United States, Canada and European Union.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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