Why You Shouldn’t Use JPG Screenshots for Ortho Starts

When it comes to your orthodontics and Invisalign cases, it’s hugely important to ensure you’re meeting standard of care for patients. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, often unknowingly. One such example is using JPG / JPEG screenshots of scans for intraoral images for Ortho Starts. But why is this? Well, we’ve outlined what you should and shouldn’t be doing for ortho starts as follows.
JPG Screenshots of Scans Are Not Standard of Care
If your patient has had a scan, it can be tempting to save time by just sending off a JPG/JPEG screenshot of the scan when submitting. However, this is not standard of care, as there is a lot that can’t be seen from these screenshots – and this could lead to inaccurate treatment plans. For example, you can’t see palatal anatomy, the color will be different, the tissue and root scalloping may be unclear, the freedom under the tongue and lips, and so on.
Of course, creating an inaccurate treatment plan can result in the patient being given an unsuitable treatment. In turn, this can require revisions and can potentially even result in patients submitting complaints.
Always Take a Full Set of Intraoral Photos
Rather than taking JPG/JPEG screenshots, you should always take a full set of intraoral photos where you can see all of the molars on both the top and bottom, the first molars, and the buccal shots. That’s why we always require our A La Carte doctors to provide a full set of intraoral photos in our consulting sessions to ensure they’re creating the optimal treatment plan.
The easiest way to take these intraoral photos for Invisalign is to use a mobile phone with a high-quality camera and the Invisalign Photo Uploader. This is HIPAA compliant and the photos go directly to your Invisalign portal. Of course, make sure that your phone is HIPAA compliant by getting help from a HIPAA compliant first.
If you need further support, our Straight Smile Solutions doctors can use our screenshot guide for free – or otherwise, feel free to download it from our store to help with your ortho starts.