An excellent reference for photographic consistency

photographyRichard Field reviews Dental Photography in Practice by Peter Gordon.

I first met Peter Gordon almost 10 years ago. It was at the start of my dental career. I attended one of his fantastic dental photography lectures. This meeting had a profound impact on my attitude to dental photography.

Peter was so ahead of his time in relation to photography. It was inspiring to hear how this shaped his dental practice and career as a whole.

Dental photography is a skill that I could now not work without. Not only for clinical records, but for the whole treatment journey. From patient information to smile design and lab communication. This all comes from having a solid foundation in photography. 

Nowadays, clinical dental photography has become a routine part of dentistry. Many operators take it for granted without an appreciation of the workings, the same as a curing light or the fast handpiece.

Many dentists either buy a camera with pre-loaded settings or input some ‘settings’ that they saw on a lecture slide and then never change them. They click away happily with no thought given to how the photographs are produced.

For the most part, this is fine until something goes wrong and a picture doesn’t come out the way they intended, or someone accidentally changes the standard settings.

Because most of us do not have an appreciation for ‘why’ a photograph turns out well we cannot understand why a photograph has not turned out so well and therefore are unable to make corrections.

Taking photography to the next level

By taking us back to basics, Peter instils not only how to take a great photograph, but with the understanding of the individual components of a camera allows us to analyse the errors and ascertain how to make the appropriate corrections. It allows any practitioner to understand the methods they need to elevate their photography to the next level and reap the rewards that come with this.

One of the cornerstones of clinical dental photography is consistency. Being able to reproduce the same image time and time again.

Peter expertly guides us though the standard views for restorative and orthodontic case presentation and his book is an excellent reference to have close at hand in the surgery.


Title: Dental Photography in Practice

Author: Peter Gordon

ISBN: 9781909836921

Price: £75.00

Pages: 146

Format: Hardback

Publication date: November 2020

Dental Photography in Practice can be ordered via www.jpmedpub.com (bit.ly/3c9wJzx) or via UK distributor NBN International (call 01752 202301 or email [email protected]). Orders can also be placed via Amazon and any other book retailer.

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This article first appeared in Dentistry magazine. You can read the latest issue here.

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