Which photos are needed for a preliminary assessment?
For an orthodontist to make a general interpretation of your teeth from photos, several images taken from different angles are needed. A single selfie is often not enough, because your bite and the relationship of the back teeth are not visible from the front. The five photos below are the basic set for an online preliminary assessment. These photos are not used to make a diagnosis, but to form a general idea before the examination.
- Natural smile (front): Smile toward the camera without forcing it. Keep the lower face, from the tip of the nose to the chin, in the frame. This photo shows how much tooth and gum is visible when you smile.
- Front close-up with teeth closed: Close your back teeth as you normally would, part your lips and get all of your front teeth in the frame. The amount of overlap of the front teeth and the midline are checked from this photo.
- Right side: With your teeth closed, turn your head slightly to the left and pull your right cheek back with a finger. The way the canine and back teeth fit together should be visible.
- Left side: Repeat the same shot for the other side.
- Top-down view of the upper and lower jaw (optional): Open your mouth wide; holding a mirror at an angle inside your mouth, photograph the chewing surfaces of the teeth in the mirror. This is useful for seeing the degree of crowding.
You can also send a side-profile photo of your face taken from ear level; however, if you do not want your face to be visible, this photo is not required. A profile photo gives an idea of the overall appearance of the upper and lower jaw in the face. When taking it, keep your head upright, look straight ahead and close your lips without straining. If your hair covers your face, pull it back; if you wear glasses, take them off.
What lighting and phone settings should you use?
The clarity of a photo depends more on lighting and settings than on the phone you use. Following these tips is enough:
- Use daylight. Stand facing a window so the light falls on your face from the front. If there is a window behind you, your teeth will come out dark.
- Turn off the flash. The flash creates glare on the teeth and wipes out their edges. If you are taking photos in the evening, place a white-light desk lamp in front of you instead of relying on the ceiling light.
- Turn off filters, beauty mode and portrait mode. These settings change the tooth color and edges, creating a misleading image.
- Prefer the main camera. The front camera is convenient, but on most phones it has a lower resolution. If someone close to you can help, use the rear camera.
- Move the phone closer instead of zooming. Digital zoom makes the image blurry. Shoot from about a hand's span away and tap the teeth on the screen to focus.
- Hold the phone parallel to your teeth. Photos taken from below or above make the bite look different than it is.
How should I hold my lips and cheeks apart?
At the clinic, cheek retractors are used for intraoral photos. You do not need them at home. After washing your hands, you can gently pull the corners of your lips sideways and back with your index fingers. For the side photos, the cheek needs to be pulled back further; placing the handle of a clean teaspoon inside the cheek and gently pulling it outward works well. Do not change the way you bite when closing your teeth; pushing the jaw forward or sliding it to the side makes the bite look different.
What are the most common photo mistakes?
Some of the photos we receive have to be requested again for the reasons below. A quick check before sending speeds up the process.
- The photo is blurry or the teeth are at the edge of the frame
- Only the lips are visible because the mouth is closed
- The front teeth look like a white spot because of flash glare
- The photo is taken while wearing a clear aligner, night guard or removable appliance
- Quality is reduced by a filter app or a screenshot
- The back teeth are not visible at all in the side photos
If you use an aligner or retainer, take it out before the photos. If you have a fixed retainer wire from a previous orthodontic treatment, simply mention it in your message.
How can you protect your privacy when sharing photos?
Because photos of your mouth and teeth contain information about your health, they may be considered special category personal data under Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK). Your photos are used only for the preliminary assessment and to communicate with you. You can find out how your data is processed, how long it is kept and how you can request its deletion in our KVKK data protection notice.
Warning about sharing sensitive health data: Only photos of your teeth are needed for the preliminary assessment. Do not send your ID card, insurance card, test results, hospital reports, medication list or images of areas other than your mouth by message. Your general health history is discussed face to face at the examination. The following small precautions also help:
- Turn off location tagging in your phone's camera settings so that no location data that could reveal your home address is added to the photo.
- If you do not want your face to be visible, crop the photos so that only the mouth area remains.
- Do not share the photos on social media or in public groups; send them directly to the clinic's WhatsApp line.
- If you do not want to keep them in your gallery after sending, you can delete them.
- If you use a shared device or one with cloud backup turned on, make sure the photos are not automatically added to shared albums.
How should I take photos of my child?
With children, the photo session should be shorter; two or three clear photos are often enough. The front smile and the front shot with teeth closed are the most useful images. Let your child part their own lips, and keep it short, like a game. Photos of anyone under 18 must be sent by a parent or legal guardian. Because jaw development in children can only be assessed to a limited extent from photos, an in-person checkup at around age 7 provides more information; on this topic, you can read our article on a child's first orthodontic checkup.
Quick checklist before sending
Before sending the photos, check off the items below one by one. This check of a few seconds often prevents the photos from having to be requested again:
- Are all five basic angles there, and are the teeth in the center of the frame?
- Are the images sharp; can you make out the edges of the teeth and the gum line?
- Is flash glare or a shadow covering the front teeth?
- In the side photos, are the canine and the teeth behind it visible?
- Have you made sure there is no aligner, retainer or removable appliance left in your mouth?
- Is location tagging off, and have you avoided adding any image with unnecessary personal information?
What information should you include with the photos?
A short note helps the photos be interpreted correctly. A few sentences are enough; there is no need to write a long health history:
- Your age, or your child's age if you are writing for your child
- What bothers you most (for example, crowding of the lower front teeth or a gap between the upper teeth)
- Whether you have had braces or aligners before
- Whether you have any jaw complaints such as pain, clicking or locking
- Which days and times suit you for an examination
If you are wondering which questions will be clarified at the examination, our pre-examination preparation page will give you an idea. Your message is answered Monday–Saturday between 09:00–20:00 on our WhatsApp line at 0312 911 60 36.
What can photos not show?
No matter how carefully they are taken, photos do not show tooth roots, bone support, impacted teeth or the skeletal relationship of the jawbones. That is why a response based on photos is not a diagnosis; the final decision on clear aligners or another method is made after an examination, X-rays and an iTero digital scan. To prepare for the examination, you can look at our orthodontic checkup question list, and to ask yourself a few preliminary questions, our clear aligner suitability quiz page.