Lee Ann Brady, DMD's Dental Blog

  • Home
  • About Dr. Lee Ann Brady
  • Dental Practice
  • Courses
    • The Art of Education in Dentistry
    • Step by Step
  • Categories
    • Dental Materials
    • Esthetic Dentistry
    • Occlusion/TMD
    • Practice of Dentistry
    • Preventive Dentistry
    • Restorative Dentistry
    • Restorative Techniques
    • Treatment Planning
    • Videos
    • A-Z Topic List
  • Speaker’s Packet Request
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Dental Photography / Patient Instructions For A ‘Lips At Rest’ Photo

Patient Instructions For A ‘Lips At Rest’ Photo

By Lee Ann Brady on 06.05.11Category: Dental Photography, Esthetic Dentistry, Restorative Dentistry

Photo of Lips at rest

One of the photos I have struggled to take consistently is “lips at rest”. I want this photo to be accurate as it is the foundation of my treatment planning protocol.

[/caption]

I have heard many tips for getting this photo, and tried out so many I have lost count. One of the first techniques was to have the patient say “m,m,m,m” and snap the photo, I guess this is where the name “emma photo” comes from. I suppose I’m not quick enough on the shutter, because as soon as they say the last “M”, they start to close and I snap a photo of them closing.

I’ve tried coaching the patient on opening without smiling. The problem is as soon as you say the word smile, they reflexively fire their muscles of facial expression and now I capture a photo of a half smile, half grimace.

Now I ask my patients to lick their lips and then breath in and out through their mouths continuously. I’ve been doing this for some time, and I love how consistently it works. As a patient when I lick my lips, I swallow and get that reflex out of the way. Patients almost always open just the right amount without any upper lip movements in order to mouth breathe, if they don’t simply coach them to open a little wider, and capture your photo.

Let me know how it works!

Related

Share

Leave a Comment Cancel

Search

Recent Posts

  • The Next Generation of Glass Ionomer Cements
  • A Fantastic New Temporary Cement
  • Tissue Blanching When Seating An Implant Restoration
  • Is It Time To Get An Intra-oral Impression Scanner?
  • Does Your Team Order The Dental Materials You Want?
  • Not All Zirconia Is Created Equal

Recent Comments

  • Bill Mitchell on Post & Core’s Coming Loose?
  • Ann on Taking an Exquisite Alginate
  • Alan on The Impact of Comfortable Anesthesia
  • Lee Ann Brady on Cement Choices For Implant Crowns
  • Dr Joseph T Matini on Cement Choices For Implant Crowns
  • Hazem Abbas on Bonding to Old Composite, Does it Work?

Policies

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Cancellations and Refunds

Security Seal

© 2020 Lee Ann Brady LLC, All Rights Reserved Site by CSL