I use my intraoral camera
almost as often as my handpiece. There is no better way to show a patient a crack on the distal of tooth #2 than to take a picture and blow it up on a screen in front of them. Today’s educated and skeptical patient sometimes needs a bit more understanding before accepting a treatment recommendation, and a camera can give that to them. This benefit does not even include the ability to prove to an insurance company that a radiographically intact tooth needed a crown due to a lost cusp hidden behind a large amalgam. The benefits are endless. Yet it may seem hard to know how to integrate yet another piece of technology into your practice without mortgaging your home. The SuniCam from Suni makes it easier than you think.
The Camera
The SuniCam is a small, plastic-shelled camera weighing about an ounce (30g). It utilizes a series of nine white LEDs around a Sony CCD sensor to capture images. The LEDs are plenty bright, and have never burned out in the year and half we have used the camera. It needs a computer to collect the images, but instead of a capture card, it utilizes a USB connection. The cable it comes with is six feet long, so if your computer is not right next to the patient, you may want to get a USB extension cable. The camera also gets its power through the USB connection, so no external power supply is needed.
Integration
The nicest thing about the camera is its portability. We have computers in every operatory. Due to the initial cost of setting up our network, we wanted a lower cost solution for intraoral imaging. The SuniCam can be unplugged and moved to another operatory simply by connecting to a USB connection on another computer. Some people have used laptops or tablet PCs for portability as well.
Image Quality
There are higher resolution cameras available to your practice, but the 1.23 megapixel is excellent for viewing open margins, line angle fractures, or oral pathology. It’s the image equivalent to looking through a good pair of 5-6x loupes. You simply can see more than the naked eye.
Software
The SuniCam comes with imaging software, but we use Suni’s Prof. Suni. You can capture the image, link it to a particular tooth or region, save it to a patient’s file, and even export it to e-mail. The software also comes with familiar “Photoshop” type tools such as altering the exposure level or sharpening the image. Images can be printed easily but a photo quality printer is a must.
Communication Ideas
The SuniCam software saves images in a proprietary format, but allows you to export to a familiar .jpg file. We have used the camera to take a picture with a shade guide for a veneer case. We take a picture of every buildup or fracture for insurance, and our “additional documentation needed” letters have dwindled to nothing. We also have found it to be a great tool to communicate with specialists. Surgeons love seeing a final picture of a restored implant the same day, and our endodontists appreciate the heads-up diagnosis before the patient arrives in their office.
Of all the technology we have integrated into our office, the intraoral camera has possibly provided the most functionality and the most excitement. The SuniCam is an excellent entry into the digital office and the price and portability make it easy to integrate.
