DENTSCAPE™: Shade Communication through Photography
Dental photography can be used as a means of communication between the dentist and the technician. Ideally, the technician who is going to fabricate the restoration should see the patient and make the appropriate shade selection. However, the great majority of restorations are fabricated by offsite technicians who do not have access to the patients. Photography provides a means to bridge the “gap” between the patient and the technician regarding shade and surface character.
1. How to take Shade View photographs to communicate shade accurately.
2. Tips and hints for calibrating and coding shade guide.
3. Hue and value analysis with Shade View photographs utilizing Photoshop for ceramic fabrication.
Naoki Aiba, CDT, ceramist and professional photographer, graduated from the Dental Technology Program at the Dental School of Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, Japan, in 1982. He completed the post-graduate ceramics course at the Tokai Dental Technicians School in 1986. He received the “Young Speaker of the Year Award,” presented by Dr. John McLean, OBE, of the ISDC in 1989. In 1992, Mr. Willi Geller selected Mr. Aiba to be a member of Oral Design. He has lectured, conducted hands-on courses, and published in more than thirty countries on ceramics, dental photography, and dentist-laboratory communications. As a professional photographer, he has published and exhibited his photographs around the world. He currently serves as a member of Editorial Board for QDT and JCD, and as a Technical Advisory Board Member of the Monterey-Bay Salinas Study Club. While he maintains his laboratory, Science Art, Inc. in Monterey, California, USA, and offers two-year advanced ceramic program, DENTSCAPE Continuum, at his teaching facility, Oral Design Center Monterey.
