Smartphones or digital SLRs for clinical dental photography: is there a difference?

Clinical photography is a fundamental aspect of orthodontic treatment and has become critical to patient care, communication and documentation. Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras with a ring flash have been established as a gold standard for clinical photography for many years, however smartphones are increasingly being utilized by both patients and clinicians due to their convenience, cost effectiveness and good accessibility.

This study compared the image quality, dimensional accuracy, ease of use and accuracy of shade representation of images produced by recent flagship smartphones versus DSLR cameras with a ring flash.

A sample of four recent smartphones and three semi-professional DSLR cameras were compared taking a comprehensive set of orthodontic intra and extra oral clinical photographs. The following outcome measures were assessed for each device: Camera sensor size, image quality, ease of use, dimensional accuracy and colour shade representation.

DSLR cameras with a ring flash were statistically significantly superior to smartphones for camera sensor size, image quality rating and dimensional accuracy. There was no significant difference between all devices for their ease-of-use rating or accuracy of colour shade representation.

Based on the results of this study, the authors recommend the use of DSLR cameras with a ring flash as a gold standard for clinical photography due to reduced quality rating and image distortion produced by many smartphone cameras.