Orthodontic Management of Agenesis and Other Complexities: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Functional Esthetics

Various cheek and lip retractors work well for taking frontal and buccal intraoral photographs, but tend to interfere with mirror placement when taking upper and lower occlusal photographs. The need for the patient to retract the lips with both hands makes photography difficult (A).

A standard retractor used for bonding (B) can also be used for taking upper and lower occlusal photographs by making a simple modification. The edges are trimmed with a scalpel and smoothed with a finishing bur so that the curved ends do not interfere with the procedure (C). The patient's lips can then be retracted with a single finger while the photographer holds the mirror in place (D). The photo can later be cropped to focus on an exact area of interest and reversed to correct the mirror image (E).

This modified retractor is easy to fabricate and provides enough retraction for taking occlusal photographs without patient discomfort.