From Dr. Bicuspid

January 18, 2012 — Visitors to the Science Museum in London can have their faces scanned in 3D and see what they might look like in another dimension as part of a new program designed to help oromaxillofacial researchers.

The images taken during the project will be used to form the largest database of 3D facial images in the world and will help with vital research conducted by visiting surgeons from Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital, and Eastman Dental Hospital and Institute. The photographs will be used to study patterns in face shape, which could help the surgeons improve treatment for patients with facial disfigurement.

via DrBicuspid Imaging.

I find this interesting for several reasons.It is a perfect example of how digital technology allows us to gather and analyse data in much more effective ways than old fashioned paper systems. Expecting reserachers to pour over thousands of old fashioned printed photographs of faces and catalog any meaningful information is just silly. Yet with digital images and computer anyalysis it is quite possible. And the end result should be quite valuable.

I also think the plan to offer it as a fun novelty at a museum is brilliant. People are reluctant to give up their image for all kinds of reasons, some valid some not so valid. Making it a novelty erases the concern and gets people to spend the few moments needed to gather the scan.

I expect we will be learning amazing things from data base analysis in the future. We will look back to medicine and dentistry in the pre-digital days and think it as archaic as we now view leaches and bleeding. However at this time part of the challenge is how to gather meaningful digital data and how to use personal data in an ethical manner.

Online Video CE The High Tech Power Practice

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A nice overview of photo printers from PC Magazine.

The first thing you should understand is that photo printers fall into two categories: dedicated also known as small-format and near-dedicated photo printers. Dedicated photo printers can print nothing but photos. They are typically limited to a maximum paper size of 2-by-3, 4-by-6, or 5-by-7 inches or panoramic variations on these sizes, but the category isnt defined just by its limits.

via Top 5 Best Photo Printers | Roundup | PCMag.com.

Not all dentists need good quality photo prints. For many things like insurance documentation or basic treatment presentations good color ink-jet prints are quite adequate. In fact increasingly we are just using digital images either on the screen or as an attachment.

Never the less if you are presenting and delivering high quality cosmetic cases a good photo quality print can be valuable. Prints can be used to show possible results prior to treatment using imaging software. Or they can be used after treatment for before and after portraits.

Many dentists have built a succesful cosmetic practice based on effective use of photography. Providing high quality photo prints is part of that and conveys an image of quality and competence.

This is a nice compliment to this. Phone apps that let you compare prices while you shop reviewed by PC Mag. Just in time for some weekend shopping.

Shoppers can simply scan a product’s barcode using a smartphone app that pinpoints the lowest prices and shares ratings and reviews from other shoppers.

via The 10 Best Shopping Apps to Compare Prices – Slideshow from PCMag.com.

From PC Magazine:

Perhaps the greatest distinction we give, however, is our Best of the Year Awards, which are presented to those products that truly dazzle us.

Best of the year in these catagories:

via The Best Products of 2011 | PCMag.com.

Acteon North America has released an Apple (OSx)  version of their acquisition and viewing software for use with the Sopro brand cameras. That means you can use a Sopro camera (including the amazing SoproLIFE that uses light fluorescence to detect caries) or even a digital radiography sensor and capture and view the image directly on an Apple computer such as a MAC airbook. This is great but Acteon has gone a step further.

You can also use the software to seamlessly integrate the images into MacPractice software. As far as I know this is the first digital imaging and radiographic product to integrate natively with MAC.

Download the Acteon Sopro MAC software update here: 

The MagnaVu consists of a high quality digital camera, precision optics, a bright LED light, a mounting system and a monitor to display what the camera is capturing. The camera optics allow for 23x optical zoom with additional digital zoom up to 46x. For comparison most dental loupes have between 2.5x and 4.5x magnification and chairside microscopes range up to 20x.

The camera images can be captured as either digital video or individual still images. These images can be used as you would use an intraoral camera to show things to patients or as an aid in diagnosis or for documentation.

The magnified image is displayed on the monitors, which are positioned so that the operator and assistant can view the treatment area while sitting in an ergonomic heads up position. No more neck and back strain as you bend down twisting to see that maxillary lingual surface. In fact the complete MagnaVu system includes a comfy chair with arm rests that accommodates the proper heads up and relaxed position.

For a lecturer, a dental training institute or a dental school a digital video procedure scope is essential. It allows you to easily demonstrate actual clinical procedures to a handful of students looking over your shoulder or to a room full of hundreds of dentists. The procedures can be recorded and archived for future training.

The linked article by law professor Glen Reynolds discusses the recent kerfuffle with Apple possibly attempting to control the use of iPhone video.

It also raises a question of ownership. When Americans buy an iPhone or other gadget, we tend to think that, since we paid for it, we actually, you know, own it. But the attitude of phone and media companies is somewhat different.

There is a lot in the article about the impact of ubiquitous video and the danger of totalitarian governments limiting the use of the Internet. However I found it interesting on another level that I think is a big deal yet is rarely discussed. Who owns the data?

The amazing features of digital data that make it so useful and powerful, such as ease of use, rapid access and instantaneous transfer also make it susceptible to abuse.

If I have a bunch of patient data stored on my server; do I own it? The data is there because I created it as a byproduct of doing business. As the creator do I own it or does each patient own their own and am I just the custodian? Are patient records and the valuable data they contain intellectual property that I own and control as if I had created a text book or novel?

If I own it, I should be able to exercise the basic rights of ownership including selling the data. However as a dentist I can only sell the data in a very proscribed fashion. I can sell to another dentist buying the practice but I cannot sell to a drug company looking for customers. As a dental professional I am obligated ethically and legally to protect much of the data as confidential.

Even if I sell the data in an acceptable fashion the fact is the buyer is usually restricted in how he or she can access and use the data. Generally the user can only fully access the data using a specific PMS and even then there are lots of limitations.

By the way as an aside you never actually own the PMS software, even if you bought and paid for it, you just own a license to use it.

If I have the data but can’t access parts of it or more commonly can’t transfer parts of it do I really own it?

Back to Apple and the idea that they would create a system that allows a third party to control some aspect of your iPhone.  If they can do that what is there to stop a software provider from embedding code that will only allow you to share data with selected others. For example you could only use selected e-claims companies. Or you could only share a radiograph with a proprietary viewer.

Who owns the data?

via Is Apple seeking to police iphone cameras?–Glenn Reynolds – NYPOST.com.

This photo printer featured in the PC Magazine review might be a good option in a dental office. We could use it to print indiviual after smiles. It is designed for single snapshots not full pages or multiple images. Therefore it would not be a good choice for case presentations or insurance photos. Just stick with plain paper and an inkjet for those, But if you want a one off glossy “real” photo this might work.

Built around a much improved, second-generation ZINK technology, the GL10 carries forward most of what was good about the first-generation Polaroid PoGo Instant Mobile Printer ($150 street, 3 stars) while vastly improving on its shortcomings.

via Polaroid Grey Label GL10 Instant Mobile Printer Review & Rating | PCMag.com.

HT Lorne Lavine

Have you ever accidentally deleted a photo on your camera, computer, USB drive, or anywhere else? What you might not know is that you can usually restore those pictures—even from your camera’s memory stick.

via How to Recover that Photo, Picture or File You Deleted Accidentally – How-To Geek.