Introduction. In dental surgery digital cameras play a major role. High quality intraoral pictures are useful in scientific and didactic activity. Aim of the study. The aim of the study was to compare the quality of intraoral photographs performed with a simple compact digital camera using lighting from the dental unit lamp and an advanced set based on a DSLR camera in patients under surgical treatment. Material and methods. The study was conducted in the Department of Dental Surgery at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, from 24.10.2012 to 15.01.2013. The first study arm consisted of 37 adult patients undergoing dental surgical treatment. Intraoral photographs were performed in two series using different equipment sets: 1) using simple compact digital camera and lighting from the dental unit lamp, 2) using a DSLR camera with a makro lens and a ring flash. The photographs were gathered in photograms, printed in high quality and presented to the group of 10 dentists for evaluation according to 3 criteria. Results. According to our study, the quality of photographs performed with a simple compact digital camera using lighting from the dental unit lamp is worse than the quality of photographs performed with advanced set basing on a DSLR camera in all 3 criteria. Conclusion. In situations, where high quality of intraoral photographs is required, using advanced photographic set basing on DSLR camera is highly recommended.

Key words: macrophotography, dental photography, oral surgery.