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Digital and Conventional Dental Photography: A Practical Clinical Manual

Periodontics and Preventive Sciences, University of Mississippi School of Dentistry, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216-4505; 601-984-6115 phone; 601-984-6120 fax; fserio{at}sod.umsmed.edu.

As stated in the Preface, "This book is intended to be a practical, accessible, and readily usable manual for daily clinical and laboratory dental photography using both conventional and digital media." The stated intention and the final result of this book may be two different things.

There is no question that Dr. Ahmad, a private practitioner in Middlesex England, and Quintessence have produced a dental photography book of the highest technical and physical quality. The book is arranged into three major sections: Section I, Basic Concepts and Methodology; Section II, Photographic Setups; and Section III, Image Management. Section I details the technical elements of photography, visual and psychological perception, and requisite equipment for image capture. Section II covers facial compositions, the natural dentition, anterior prostheses, posterior prostheses, periodontal and surgical procedures, dental pathology, and the dental laboratory. Section III discusses processing, storing, archiving, editing, and presentation of the final images. There is a key to a variety of symbols used throughout the book to highlight equipment setups and hints to make better images.

The discussion of the technical elements of light and photography is very detailed and complete. The section on perception, while somewhat subjective, is certainly thought-provoking. The chapter on equipment discusses both conventional and digital options, but focuses more on studio-quality equipment than that which most dentists will use in their offices. Unfortunately, the section on digital equipment and portable lighting that are most often used in U.S. clinical dental photography was lacking in depth.

Chapters 4–10 in Section II demonstrated various techniques for making facial, intraoral, and laboratory images. The techniques presented are more studio techniques, using lights mounted away from the camera, reflectors, ambient sunlight, fabric diffusers, multiple flashes, all with the patient sitting upright. While the images themselves are nonpareil, most images are of the anterior part of the mouth. Posterior photographs show occlusal surfaces and restorative procedures. Chapter 8 on periodontal and surgical procedures is completely inadequate in that no posterior images are presented, there are no examples of surgical procedures or elevated flaps, and the techniques presented are impractical for high-quality image making "on the fly," while actual clinical procedures are being performed. Chapter 9, which covers dental pathology, suffers from similar shortcomings. The discussion in Section III on the preparation, cataloging, and presentation of images is truncated. A more extensive discussion on image manipulation and presentation software would have been welcomed.

While Dr. Ahmad should be applauded for demonstrating the highest quality of clinical photography that is possible, the book falls short in the practical realm. This book will be of interest to true photography aficionados, but will be of little use for dental students, specialty students, and faculty who are interested in getting a grasp on the basics of intraoral photography as practiced in the U.S. This book should be a part of a dental school’s library, but individuals should have more than a basic understanding of photography to appreciate what is presented here.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Serio, F. G. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Serio, F. G.