Chairside - Glidewell Dental Labs

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Incorporating Portrait Photography Into a Busy Dental Practice
Portrait photography, especially of your own patients, is
a great way to demonstrate how cosmetic dentistry can
help one attain a beautiful smile. Whether through your
own photography or pictures you have purchased, patients
are more accepting of cosmetic dental procedures
when they see the amazing results others have achieved.
Even better, when you incorporate portrait photography
into your dental practice, you can use these portraits for
external marketing in both print and television markets.
These snapshots also make a wonderful place to display
testimonials from your patients.
■ Digital Cameras
Digital cameras have all but eliminated the need for hiring
a professional photographer to document your best
cosmetic restorations. The latest SLR digital cameras (the
ones that look and feel like a 35 mm camera) have made
the art of taking professional portraits very easy. Even a
dentist or staff member who has never taken a photograph
can take amazing portraits with just the touch of
a button. This is because a computer that does most the
work drives the camera for you.
Digital cameras follow the same trends as the rest of the
computer market. Each year the cost continues to fall,
while the quality and image size of the picture grows. A
professional level SLR digital camera with a macro lens
and ring flash can now be purchased for less than $3,000.
At the time of writing this article, my favorite digital camera
is the Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR camera with the
Canon 100 mm macro lens and MR-14EX E-TTL Macro
Ring Lite Flash.