Dental photography buying guide

This guide is based on the advice and recommendations we received from the lecturers on dental photography, dentists who have bought the products and from our own experience. We aim to offer the best quality products at discounted prices and we believe that we won’t be beaten on price on the same products available in the UK.

Mirrors:
We only offer high quality, hand finished, front surface double sided glass mirrors available with chromium or titanium coating  (on special request  we can also provide ultrabright Pure Reflect mirrors offering 100% light reflectance). Our mirrors are manufactured in the EU under our brand and been featured in numerous dental publications. They are highly recommended by top UK lecturers, who frequently invite us to their lectures.

The difference between Chromium and Titanium coating is that Titanium mirrors offer better light reflectance (close to 80%) compared to Chromium (around 65%). Furthermore, Titanium mirrors are more scratch resistant and more resistant to repeated sterilizations in an autoclave. However, like with all mirrors, cleaning, sterilization and storage must be done with care in order to preserve and prolong the instrument's efficiency.

You may also find rhodium coated mirrors, which present a very good alternative, provided that they are bought from a trusted source. We have ordered number of allegedely rhodium coated mirrors from sellers on ebay. They were all made in China, and much darker than chromium mirrors. Quality of the finish was generally poor with majority of the mirrors had chipped edges. When confronted, the sellers were admitting that these were actually not rhodium coated mirrors. Should you wish to try them, we can send you these mirrors to try and compare. 

Mirror size and shape required vary according to the clinical situation. However, for most clinical situations an occlusal adult and buccal adult should suffice. For our standard occlusal adult mirror a handle/holder is recommended to help to keep finger tips out of the photograph. A patient can hold it himself, minimising the risk of scratches by not resting the mirror on the teeth. We offer Flexible silicone holder and Aluminium holder with a rotating head. Should you wish to save money on the handle, we would then recommend our Occlusal Adult Universal mirror, which is longer and thus no handle is required. As for the buccal mirrors, the most popular and recommended is Buccal Adult. Obviously, the more shapes you have available, the easier it would be to take pictures in some more demanding situations. However, to start off, these two shapes above should be sufficient.

Storage sterilisation cassettes for mirrors:
In order to protect mirrors, you may wish to buy storage and sterilisation cassettes. We have larger cassettes for 3 and 4 mirrors, as well as individual, Solo cassettes which are very slim and protect mirrors better. They are available in 3 sizes to accommodate the shapes we have on offer.

Retractors: we offer clear plastic and also metal retractors. It is more of a personal preference which ones you choose. Plastic retractors are more popular, although they may get cloudy after repeated sterilisations. Columbia metal cheek retractors are more durable but some dentists did not like the fact that they are more reflective due to their high polished finish. Most recommended are our double ended v-shape/c-shape cheek retractors. We also offer an upper and lower lip retractor, which is highly recommended if you do not have “Flexipalette C” contraster.
"UPDATE: in September 2017 we've launched an absolute novelty - a double ended v-shape/c-shape black metal cheek retractor with non-reflective surface. They will be available to purchase from first part of October '17".

Contrasters/Contrastors:
They allow photographs to be taken with a completely black background. This obscures the inside of the mouth and makes the image more presentable for patients, lectures and publications. It is more of a personal preference which contractors you choose – we offer aluminium and silicone contrasters. The aluminium contrasters come in sets of two (large and small) and the palatal/anterior set additionally has a ruler, which is particularly helpful when taking pictures of cysts, etc.

Our silicone contrasters can be bent for easier positioning. The softer silicone outer also gives a warmer feeling for the patient, compared to cold aluminium. We offer standard silicone contrasters, which are manufactured in France, as well as thinner and more flexible Flexipalette contrasters, which are made in Switzerland. We encourage to buy the whole set, which is discounted even further. However, the most useful shape is Flexipalette A, then Flexipalette C.  Recently, we also introduced StyleItaliano PhotoCad Set of 3 retractors,

Lastly, you may also wish to purchase our Anti-mist/Anti-fog spray for mirrors (not only photo mirrors, but all kind of mirrors). To check its effectiveness, you may try to use it on a half of a mirror and then breathe on the mirror. You should then notice the difference.

We hope that this simple guide will help you to make a better choice of what to buy. However, should you wish further advice, then please do not hesitate to email or call us.
UK Dentistry Team.

Please check on pages of individual products for cleaning/sterilisation instructions.