Digital photography technology offers unique capabilities, advantages, and challenges to dental practices

Digital photography technology has both advanced substantially in the past few years and decreased in price. Today, high-resolution cameras offer an attractive option to dentists ready to incorporate digital photography into their practices. This article begins with a technical explanation of how digital photography works as the basis for understanding how it compares and contrasts with film photography, as well as how it offers unique benefits to dental practices. It describes how digital camera design affects image characteristics such as resolution and color fidelity and provides dentists with suggested camera features they should consider. The article explores issues associated with the display and storage of images. It then provides guidelines to help dentists determine whether they are ready to adopt digital photography, including a discussion about the advantages of digital photography as well as suggested ways digital photography will affect office workflows and productivity.