Camera for one specific purpose

Hi everyone. It's nice to be here.

I could really use some advice

I need to get a digital camera. Mainly, for the purpose of taking pictures of the inside of the mouth. I need to be able to get decent enough quality to pick up on changes (most often subtle) on the condition of the teeth and gums. If I can see it with my eyes when I look in the mirror, I'd like for the camera I get to be able to pick it up too; to see what my eyes see.

Would say, a 3 megapixel camera suffice? Or am I way off?

The pictures will be going up on a website as medium-ish size thumbnails, and then will be able to be blown up to, oh, probably a 600px square. I guess that's the important part right there - how many megapixels would it take get a quality, detailed shot at that size.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Just wondering, why do you want to take a picture of teeth and gums?

They're going to go on a website that will document some experiments that I am planning on trying. Remineralization of enamel, filling in of cavities etc. - that's what I'm trying to achieve. All done through diet and specific oral cleaning techniques. No dentists.

I'm interested in that website, have you got a link? Filling in cavities without a dentist..that's one hell of a proposition ! I just had my cavity filled and my wallet emptied :( .. how does that work exactly? Well.. as for your problem... I'm no expert but these are some links I've found on the subject of intra-oral camera and video scopes:



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/New-Model-Den...QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.abbotsforddentist.com/equipment.htm

Norman Camera has all kinds of dental equipment - and kits.

The link will take you to dental camera kits. Then, if you look to the left of the screen and scroll down you will find other photography dental equipment and accessories.

http://www.normancamera.com/category...Rebel_XSI_Kits

Good luck - hope this helps.

Liz

Kajuah,

Sorry, no, I don't have link. This is all a "plan" I have in the works. Whether I follow through with it, and whether I actually see positive results, remains to be seen.

As far as the process goes, the theory is that if you can keep the mouth in an optimal "healing state" (clean and wet - i.e. adequate saliva with adequate minerals contained therein) and if you have an adequate, nutritious diet, then it is possible for cavities to heal, enamel to reappear, etc. It's all kinda 'fringe' dentistry. Most of the information I've found, and where I first heard of it, was through the writings of a dentist who made a minor stink in the dental community in the seventies, named Robert Nara. Here's an article from a 1978 issue of Prevention magazine that sheds a bit of light.

http://www.mizar5.com/heal.htm

In regards to nutrition specifically, what also got me thinking along these lines was reading the material of Weston Price. He points out that in many cultures, dental decay is practically non-existant.

http://www.westonaprice.org/

Thanks for those links. I hadn't even considered something like that. I could still get still images from a device like that right? I was just imagining getting a regular camera and shining a spotlight in my mouth or something, lol.

Liz, thanks for those links too.

What would be really great is if I could get a dentist to participate in this project and just have him/her take the pictures with top notch gear.

Hey, this is kinda timely.

Washington Post article on Weston Price:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...080501000.html

What I would do is talk to a few dentists and ask them. Many probably do the same thing, particularly those who specialize ...

but one key thing will be to get a flash ring. This will evenly illuminate the inside of the mouth, eliminating hot spots.