Photo Protocol Of Orthodontic Treatment

During each visit, the orthodontist necessarily performs a series of intraoral photographs of the patient. What are these pictures for?

1. The photo protocol is a visualization for the patient. Sometimes patients do not recognize their teeth. We transfer the photo to the computer, and clearly demonstrate their problems, and they are surprised that they never noticed it.
2. At the stage of diagnosis, photos are needed to plan the treatment most fully. It is clear that orthodontics performs its functions of correcting the bite, distributing the correct chewing load, so that the teeth last longer for the person, bite and stay healthy, and the gums around the tooth are also healthy. But very often patients come for orthodontic treatment with aesthetics. In any case, the work of the orthodontist is carried out with the concept of the general harmony of the face and smile.

   There are different recommendations in different orthodontic approaches - for example, in one embodiment, the difference between the width of the central and lateral incisors should be half a millimeter, and in the other - 1 millimeter. If you carry out these or other recommendations template and without photos, then not every smile and face it will be beautiful. Someone has a big difference in the width of the incisors, and the smile becomes special. Only by looking at the smile and face of the patient can we understand how to give the appearance of the patient a zest and beauty.

3. Not all orthodontists take photographs of each patient’s visit, and orthodontists from the Konfidencia Clinic are often asked why such a complex photo protocol is needed. Many people think that this is in order to demonstrate their clinical cases. However, orthodontic changes are measured in millimeters - the tooth moved by 1-1.5 mm, turned, it is important to monitor and constantly analyze just with the help of photographs in dynamics.

   It is very difficult for an orthodontist to have a photographic memory for hundreds of patients in order to clearly state that it has become better since last time and to show it to the patient. The photo clearly shows if it is better or not, and it is much easier to understand whether the technique worked and whether there is progress.

4. Little things are visible in the photos. Increasing the photo, you can see that the tooth needs to be further rotated or that the upper and lower teeth are not closed yet. Looking at a patient sitting in a chair at a certain angle, it is sometimes difficult for an orthodontist to catch some moments, and a photo is always taken from the right angle.
5. Photos - this is a great motivation for patients who forget what was first and do not want to continue to wear braces. Sometimes it happens that at first the work on the alignment of the dentition goes quickly, and the remaining year and a half orthodontist deals with the correction of the bite. The patient cannot evaluate this work visually and is in a hurry to remove braces. After viewing the photos and he has a desire to go ahead and bring the result to the end.
   Change in facial features. In the photo, we look at the thirds of the face. There is the upper third of the face - from the hairline to the eyebrows, the middle one - from the eyebrows to the base of the nose and the lower third of the face from the base of the nose to the chin. And they should be proportional. Some of our treatment options may lead to changes in face height. In the case of a deep bite in the course of treatment, as the height of the bite increases, the lower third of the face increases. According to the photo, the doctor analyzes whether it will be beautiful to a certain patient or not.
   The middle line between the teeth should be in the center of the face, but it is difficult to determine it by eye due to many factors. In our clinic, it is considered that the middle line between the upper central incisors should be in the center of the lip.
6. According to the patient's profile, the orthodontist determines how harmoniously the upper and lower lips and chin look. If the patient has a flat profile, he will not be recommended to remove the teeth, as this may aggravate the situation. And if the profile is convex, the upper and lower lips are very prominent, it will be noticeable in the photo and such a patient is more likely to be offered treatment with tooth extraction to create a harmonious profile.
7. If there are photographs, dentists of different specializations (therapist, orthodontist, orthopedist, surgeon, etc.) are easier to draw up a comprehensive plan following a consultation, without inviting the patient to the clinic for multiple consultations. It is enough for experts to discuss the clinical situation using the photographs and computed tomography of the patient.