Today’s dental practices are going beyond the traditional four-handed dentistry and the entire team becomes responsible for providing the optimal patient experience. As the dental industry continues to evolve, dental assistants and hygienists become more responsible for overall practice productivity. Based on their time spent with patients, these team members have the most opportunities to help increase case acceptance as patients tend to feel more comfortable asking a team member questions about their oral health.
Clinical photography and case documentation provide an effective avenue for the team members to interact with patients in a personal and educational manner. Accordingly, by educating and motivating patients about a potential treatment, dental assistants and hygienists are in a position to positively influence the practice’s bottom line. To gain the most from this situation, the team member should be able to concentrate on a patient while working confidentially with a camera. Consequently, the use of an appropriate camera will also help ensure patients of the office’s commitment to their case and thus, contribute to the patients’ improved cooperation and case acceptance.
Therefore, when selecting a camera for the practice, choosing equipment designed specifically for dentistry is going to be an immediate problem solver and practice advantage—making the clinical photography tasks more predictable, team-inclusive and productive.
Proprietary to Shofu, the EyeSpecial C-III digital dental camera was developed with the needs of dentistry in mind. This camera achieves predictable and consistent clinical photographs for case documentation, diagnosis and treatment planning, patient communication and education, insurance verification, legal documentation and dental laboratory collaboration with ease and convenience.
Equipped with a 12 mega-pixel sensor and the cutting-edge FlashMatic module—a proprietary system of ring and dual-point flashes—this smart camera demonstrates true-color reproduction with an exceptional depth-of-field range. The EyeSpecial C-III also possesses anti-shake attributes that ensure clear images with each use. The panoramic LCD screen of Shofu’s camera is larger than displays and viewfinders of typical SLR and point-and-shoot cameras and can be operated with a gloved hand.
The screen employs gridlines that facilitate a proper image alignment, thus reducing the risk of photographing objects at an incorrect angle. Navigating Shofu’s camera is virtually stress free since no extensive technical knowledge is required to work with it, an attribute that may motivate clinicians to delegate photography tasks to their staff members, therefore freeing precious chairtime.
Shofu’s camera features eight pre-set dental shooting modes—standard, surgery, mirror, face, low-glare, whitening, tele-macro and isolate shade—for instant, reproducible and operator-insensitive clinical photography. Furthermore, the camera exhibits numerous other smart attributes to help streamline communication with patients, staff (clinicians, hygienists, and assistants) and dental laboratory technicians.
For efficiency and convenience, the majority of clinical images, including anterior and buccal photographs, may be shot in a standard mode. The EyeSpecial C-III incorporates auto-cropping, autofocus and distance finder, the properties that help accomplish predictable and consistent images each time, independent of the photography expertise of the person operating the camera.
Exclusive to the EyeSpecial C-III is the isolate shade mode which grays out the gingival tissue to improve visual acuity for optimal shade matching. When combined with the draw/edit function which enables making notes on images, this feature is of a value for an effective treatment evaluation or a discussion about the progress or challenges in a treatment modality.
Also unique to the EyeSpecial C-III is the whitening mode which enables dental assistants and hygienists to efficiently perform the before-and-after-whitening comparison for patients who undergo a whitening treatment. Taking photos in this mode is highly intuitive and does not require extensive photography knowledge or familiarity with ancillary computer software to present to patients a realistic image of their new smile. The whitening mode reduces glare and focuses on a shade of the enamel. Since the color assessment is not influenced by surrounding lighting, glare or other issues commonly experienced with traditional cameras, dental assistants or hygienists can more accurately determine the level of treatment that a patient may still require. Combined with the draw/edit function, the whitening mode makes an excellent communication aid when discussing with a patient the progress of a whitening session, or as an interactive adjunct to gain a patient’s acceptance for other treatments.
With the proliferation of HIPAA-compliant Bluetooth and other wireless devices, the EyeSpecial C-III provides dental teams with the ability to wirelessly interconnect the camera with other systems in the operatory or laboratory. When furnished with a Wi-Fi card, a photograph captured with Shofu’s camera will instantly appear on connected (paired) devices, including a computer’s monitor, laptop, or an iPad, turning a dental office and laboratory into an efficient communication hub.
Designed to provide predictability and functionality, the heavy-duty yet extremely ultralight (weighing ca. 1lb) and sleek EyeSpecial C-III complies with stringent infection control protocols. The camera is water-, chemical- and scratch-resistant, and it can be swiftly disinfected with a disinfecting towelette.
The right camera is a versatile, easily-operated instrument that can be used by the whole team to improve practice efficiency, clinical accuracy, and patient acceptance. Packed with intuitive, cutting-edge functions tailored specifically for dentistry, the EyeSpecial C-III helps dental professionals meet the varied needs in their practices and laboratories.
