Page 38 - DP Vol 19 No 2 HR_Neat

dental photography

How Photography can support

Excellent Communication

for the Dental Team

Dr. Federico Lorelli

AbsTrACT relationship between quality of performance
Today is the age of digital social media where everyone is and patient perception
connected to everyone. How can we connect with each other
while overcoming language and cultural barriers? Images are
the universal language: photographs and icons know how to
make themselves understood by everyone, without the limits of
language, regardless of race or bias.
Professional photography has become a system of
communication with the masses with subliminal power.

DisCussion
The enormous increase in therapeutic possibilities, the ultra-
specialization, and the increasing use of technology at our Performance quality
disposal, make dental therapies less comprehensible in the eyes Perceived quality
of our patients. The result is that there is no immediate cause-
and-effect relationship between the real quality we are able to Fig 1: While there is an increase in the quality of performance, the
provide our patients and their perception of it. In addition, we patient will not perceive this improvement in the same way.
are often focused on the execution of treatment, rather than its
technical aspects. Unfortunately, this behavior takes us away Visual Process Workflow
from the patient and his/her needs (Figure1).
[2]
In an attempt to reduce this gap, we establish effective
communication with our dialogue, using words, tone of voice,
nonverbal language (gestures, body posture, facial expressions,
smile, gaze) and visual aids.
The most popular visual aids to improve communication
with the patient include 3D models that reproduce the oral
cavity, drawings on paper, computer displays or software that
shows three-dimensional video.
The use of models, drawings, pictures and video, increase
understanding but does not represent information that is
“tailored” to the individual patient. Being pre-packaged can also
give the impression of trying to sell a treatment as if it were a
product, instead of focusing on the pathology of the patient .
[2]
Instead, photographic images of the same patient or those
of other patients with similar pathologies may be used to Fig 2: The visual process is not limited to our optical learning
show the result of the final treatment – this reinforces verbal system; along with sight, other sensory organs are also used such
communication. as touch, smell, taste, hearing, and so are the brain, memory and
How important are images in communication? To understand thinking, which are used to compare experiences (predictive
the importance of the impact of images, one need only flip models), record and place in order. Sensory acquisition occurs in
through a magazine. these percentages: 78 percent by sight; 13 percent by hearing; 3
The images first capture the observer, who, by selecting those percent by touch, smell and taste
of greatest interest and emotional impact will go on to deepen
their understanding by reading the captions and the associated HoW imPorTAnT ArE imAgEs in CommuniCATion?
text. The same exact news report (which will be read in detail Professional photography has become a system of mass media
by only a small minority of “readers”) may leave sensations, in communication, with subliminal means and without linguistic limits .
[1]
the collective imagination of the people of “page-turners” and Newspapers are leafed through (almost never read), advertisements are
therefore completely different information, depending on of the seen, glimpsed or perceived (only those who work in the industry really
images used to accompany it . read them) and the web is browsed (one scrolls the surface).
[1]
38 Dental Practice i March-April 2023 i Vol 19 No 2