DR. PHILLIP KEMP'S Q&A

Email questions to: kemp@calumetphoto.com

Question: Why do you use digital photography in your dental practice?

Dr. Kemp: The number one reason why we use digital photography in our office is communication; the ability to communicate with a patient, the dental lab or an insurance company. There’s an emotional drive to using digital. In our practice, the ability to take the pictures and download them into the computer in a two-to-three minute process, then use them before the patient is even finished with the consultation is tremendous. Before patients leave the office, we try to have something in their hand or in their head about what we’re proposing, and start the process of them thinking and deciding to do cosmetic dentistry. Digital photography is a simple process that has grown our office.  It is instant, easy and fun!

Question: What caused you to make the commitment to digital photography?

Dr. Kemp: We were going through the accreditation process with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD), that process required slide documentation of your cases. We were shooting film, and fighting with slides while trying to learn the protocol. We would get the slides back, and a lot of time when we thought we had great pictures, we would look at them and they were horrible. We would have to ask the patients to come back because we could not start a case until we had our slide protocol. When we started using digital it was an instant process. We knew right away whether the pictures and exposure were good and it did not slow our process down of doing the cases. Going from film to digital was a godsend in our ability to do our cases, but also in the ability to drive the emotional aspect of selling a case.

Question: What is a full-frame digital camera? I’m told you have to change the magnification setting on your lens if your camera is not full-frame.

Dr. Kemp: A full frame digital camera is fitted with an image sensor that is the same size as traditional 35mm camera.  The majority of digital cameras use smaller sensors because they are much cheaper to produce. So when a macro lens, which is designed for a full frame camera, is mounted on a non-full frame camera, the subject appears closer.  When you are taking the required views of the teeth, you must compensate by changing the magnification setting on the macro lens. If you do not make the compensation, your pictures will appear too close. While taking pictures with a standard lens, you might not notice the difference, but there is no margin for error shooting close up shots of teeth with a macro lens. If you do not have a Canon 5D, Canon 1DS Mark II and Mark III or a Nikon D3, then most likely you are shooting with a non-full frame digital camera and you must change the magnification setting. You will find a complete explanation of this in Chapter 4 (Taking Pictures) of my DVD.