Prepare your office properly for digital photography Tarun Agarwal, DDS, Founder The Digital Practice

Seeing is believing. Digital photographs, with this type of clarity, can be used immediately to explain treatment options and anticipated treatment outcome.

You’ve decided to take the plunge. You’ve selected a digital camera that fits your practice’s needs and it has just arrived. Now what? Too many times dentists get excited about a new technology, but fail to properly implement the technology into their practice. Often the piece of equipment ends up collecting dust or becomes an expensive paperweight. A clear plan of action for implementation and training is paramount to successfully maximize your investment in digital photography.

Proper Accessories
The first step is to acquire the proper accessories. These accessories include mirrors, retractors, photo paper, photo printer, card readers, and storage software. Mirrors and retractors are needed to take quality intra-oral photographs. The best source for quality mirrors and retractors is PhotoMed International (www.photomed.net). Photo paper and a photo printer are needed to print your digital photos. A card reader and software is needed to store your photos on your computer for future retrieval.

Photographic Series and Views
Now that you have your camera it is critical to determine which photos you will need to take. Just like radiographs, you should establish a certain ‘series’ of photographs your staff should take on each and every patient. By establishing a basic series of photos, you create an easy, predictable guide for your staff to follow and implement. In my office the basic photograph series consists of a full face, smile, retracted anterior, maxillary arch, mandibular arch, and a hygiene photo. Using these six photographs I am able to involve and educate the patient in their dental condition and begin exploring the possibilities of a healthier mouth. If the patient decides to move forward with treatment, we then take additional photos as needed. In my opinion, these photographs play a larger role than radiographs in successful diagnosis, documentation, and treatment acceptance.

Implementation
For any technology to be successful, it must be easy to integrate into your practice style. Your practice shouldn’t revolve around photos, but the photos should become part of your practice. It is my opinion the basic photograph series should be taken by the person who usually takes the new patient radiographs at the same time the radiographs are taken on all new patients. A system should also be established to begin taking the basic series of photos on recall patients as their radiographs become due. By utilizing the help of the patient to hold the retractors, the basic photos can be taken by a single staff member in about two minutes. Then while the radiographs are being processed, the photos can be printed using a photo printer. If your radiographs are digital, the photographs can be imported into the same program (via the card reader) at that time for future retrieval and use. As you can see, the addition of a basic series of photographs shouldn’t add more than a few minutes to your new patient experience, but the benefits will add much more to your practice!

Photo Printing
A photograph is useless unless you take the time to print the photo and give it to the patient to take home. This picture often makes it to the refrigerator door and serves as a reminder of work that was completed or needs to be done. Printing digital photos can be accomplished easily and with exceptional results utilizing today’s photo printers. In fact, the photos can be printed without utilizing a computer. One such printer is the HP 7550. The HP 7550 accepts your memory card directly from the camera and has a small LCD screen that allows you to preview eight photos per page. Simply insert your card into the printer, follow the instructions and presto!

With digital photos it is quick and very easy to explain to patients how a simple cosmetic treatment will enhance their smile

Photo Viewing
The next step is to learn how to simply and effectively view your photographs with your patients. The simplest way is to print the photos on high quality photo paper and hand them to the patient. Another way is to transfer the photos to your practice software or digital radiography software and view on a computer or TV screen. You can use a laser pointer to tour the mouth with the patient.

A seldom used, and in my opinion the easiest, way to view the photographs doesn’t involve the use of a printer or computer. Most of today’s digital cameras have video outputs that connect the camera directly to the TV (much like intraoral video cameras). Simply connect the provided cable from the camera to the TV and your images appear on your TV. Using the controls on the camera you will be able to use a full arch photograph and zoom into each tooth without any noticeable loss of quality. This in essence turns a single photo into a close-up video tour of the mouth–with the focus on quadrant and comprehensive dentistry!

Patient Education and Involvement
Clearly the best and most profitable use for photographs is patient education and involvement. Patients often don’t realize the condition of their mouth as they have never seen it up close. More importantly, the number one reason patients don’t proceed with treatment is not finances, but not being involved in the treatment planning.

The first step in the education process is to introduce the photographs to the patient–“Mrs. Jones, with your permission I would like to take the opportunity to share your photographs with you so you can see exactly what I see.” Then give Mrs. Jones a copy of her photographs and ask “Mrs. Jones is their anything you see that concerns you or anything you would like to change?” You will be absolutely amazed at what patients say and suddenly begin to see. This simple dialogue will open the door to explore the possibilities of comprehensive dentistry. Show Mrs. Jones some sample photos of the work that is possible (other similar cases that you have photographed) in addition to any multimedia education videos (CAESY–www.caesy.com) that reinforce her particular situation.

Unfortunately, many offices don’t take the time to learn how to effectively implement new technologies. This leads to buyer’s remorse and abandonment of the technology. Effective implementation of digital photography doesn’t require fancy equipment or a lot of computer knowledge. In fact, it can all be done without a computer. I urge every office to take the time to learn more about digital photography and harness all the promise this technology holds.

For those that would like to learn more about the power of photography and have the opportunity to get hands-on training for your entire staff–I personally invite you to attend my photography workshop at the first ever DentalTown Extravaganza at the Flamingo Hilton on February 6th-8th, 2003 in Las Vegas (www.towniemeeting.com) or be sure to look for a training seminar in a city near you in 2003!

Dr. Agarwal maintains a full-time private practice emphasizing cosmetic and restorative dentistry. He has completed extensive training in the field of cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry at the world renowned Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. He is the founder of the Triangle Dental Society, and has been featured on ABC and NBC news. Dr. Agarwal has lectured to other dentists on various cosmetic techniques and high-tech dental equipment. He is an active member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, American Dental Association, and Academy of General Dentistry. For more information on how digital photography may benefit your office contact Tarun by phone at (919) 870-7645 or online at thedigitalpractice.com.