Louis Hardan - Protocols for Mobile Dental Photography with Auxiliary Lighting

Medicolegal

In the medicolegal arena of the dental field, photography is considered a key element in addition to radiographs and plaster casts. In fact, photography may be the only documentation tool that can appeal to the general population, as opposed to radiographs. In addition, preserving plaster casts of every patient for documentation can prove to be difficult because they take up physical space and complicate the filing system. Photographs, especially digital photographs, can be easily stored and organized in a way that allows the dentist to easily access them.

In the unfortunate case that a dentist is sued by a patient, photographs are the best visual aid to portray the treatment delivered. People in the legal field are not acquainted with evaluating radiographs and they may not understand medical terms, so they need visual aids to which they can relate. Meticulous documentation with high-quality photographs ensures that dentists can defend their work. Because it is often impractical and difficult to photograph every stage of every patient’s dental treatment, the decision as to what should be photographed must be left to the dentist to assess the risk. In general, expensive or advanced treatment plans warrant more detailed documentation, as do treatment plans for patients who are particularly skeptical or who have made previous legal allegations. If comprehensive documentation is not attainable, photographs should at least be taken before and after each dental treatment to show the initial conditions and the changes that occurred.

Medicolegal photographic documentation in the dental field is also relevant for forensic identification of human remains, a macabre but sometimes necessary use.

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