Photographs to send with a case.
This is the specification rather than the reasoning: what to photograph, how, and which images matter for which case type.
The standard series
Four images cover almost every case. A retracted frontal view of the anterior segment for overall context. A close view of the tooth with the shade tab in the same plane, immediately adjacent and in focus. An incisal-edge view, which shows translucency and the shape of the incisal third better than any frontal image. And an unretracted smile showing the lip line and how much tooth is actually displayed.
Take the same four the same way every time. Consistency is what lets a ceramist learn to read your images reliably, and it is worth more than any single improvement in equipment.
For a posterior case, one pre-operative image of the tooth and its neighbours is usually sufficient.
Before anything dries the teeth
Enamel dehydrates quickly once teeth are isolated or held open, becoming lighter and more opaque. A shade taken twenty minutes into an appointment can be a full step off the shade the patient will have once the tooth rehydrates.
Take the photographs and the shade at the start of the appointment, before isolation, retraction or extended opening. If the case has already been under a dam, allow the tooth to rehydrate before assessing.
This single point resolves more shade problems than any other.
Put the tab in the frame
A photograph of the tooth alone tells the ceramist very little, because colour in an image depends on the light, the camera and the processing. An image containing both the tooth and the shade tab is self-referencing — whatever the lighting did, it did to both.
Hold the tab in the same plane as the tooth and immediately beside it, not in front or behind, with both in focus. Photograph the tab you believe matches and one on either side, so the ceramist can see which direction the match falls in.
Name the shade guide you are using. A2 means different things on different guides.
Reduce the glare
Direct flash produces specular reflection that hides exactly the internal detail worth communicating. A cross-polarizing filter removes it and reveals underlying chroma and internal structure.
Where cross-polarization is not available, angling the flash, using a diffuser, or moving slightly off-axis all help. A black contrastor behind anterior teeth removes background reflection and makes incisal translucency visible in a way nothing else achieves.
For a demanding anterior case, a paired set — one polarized, one not — is ideal. The polarized image shows colour and internal structure; the unpolarized shows how the surface handles light, which is the texture information.
By case type
Anterior restorative: the full four-image series, plus images of the contralateral and adjacent teeth showing internal character, plus the preparation shade.
Implant: the healing abutment in place before removal, showing the developed tissue contour, and the component packaging from the placement appointment.
Removable: the patient's existing prosthesis if there is one, and a pre-extraction image where an immediate denture is planned. Full mouth: a complete series including occlusal views and a facial portrait.
Sending them
JPEG or PNG at full resolution, unedited. Do not colour-correct, brighten or crop tightly — automatic enhancement on a phone does the same thing invisibly, and both destroy the tab-to-tooth relationship that made the image useful.
Send them with the case rather than separately, and include a sentence about what you are trying to achieve. Photographs show the situation; the sentence tells the ceramist what you want done about it.
More in Digital Dentistry
Send a case
Digital scans and conventional impressions are both accepted. Cases move by UPS and Purolator, and Fairmont works with practices throughout British Columbia and across Canada.