The use of digital dental photography in an Eastern European country

Abstract

Aims. To assess the use of digital photography in dentistry and its relation with the professional experience of the dental practitioners in Romania.
 Methods. An anonymous questionnaire including eight questions was distributed online to collect information on the use of dental photography.
 Results. 84.84% of the respondents were using a photographic equipment in their clinical practice. Regarding the type of photographic equipment used, 51.79% of the participants indicated DSLR cameras, 44.05% smartphones, 2.38% compact cameras and 1.78% other devices for taking clinical images. There was a significant association (p<0.05) between the experience of the practitioners and the use of dental photography, type of equipment and protocol used.
 Conclusions. Respondents with more than 10 years of experience were more likely to use digital photography in their practice than those with less experience. Most of the digital photography users with more than 10 years of experience were taking images with a DSLR Camera (65.52%) followed by 31.04% smartphone users. Conversely, 56.42% of the clinical photography users with less than 5 years of experience mainly preferred a smartphone device and 41.02% a DSLR Camera.

Comparison of different digital shade selection methodologies in terms of accuracy

“…In another study comparing the same groups, no significant differences were found among the study groups, but when the brightness value was low, the use of a shade selection technique with a photograph taken using a polarizing filter or spectrophotometer was suggested. 37 …”

A Comparative Analysis of DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras for Dental Photography

“…The results indicated that 48% of general dentists utilized clinical photography as a routine practice. 5 The use of photography to record dental conditions is increasing worldwide. 6 The main disadvantage of DSLR systems lies in their design, which utilizes a system of mirrors and a pentaprism causing the camera to be large and heavy.…”

“…5 The use of photography to record dental conditions is increasing worldwide. 6 The main disadvantage of DSLR systems lies in their design, which utilizes a system of mirrors and a pentaprism causing the camera to be large and heavy. Technological advancements over the last few years have enabled development of mirrorless cameras which are smaller and lighter than DSLR cameras.…”

Dental photography: Why? What? How? Part 1 Why? The role of dental photography in daily practice.

“…The most frequent reasons evoked by dentists who do not use photo documentation are: documentation is time-consuming, expensive equipment, long learning curve (too complicated), and lack of training [2][3][4][5].…”