Beyond the standard oral x-rays taken by dental professionals, high-quality reflective mirrors are required for intraoral photography to see gum and teeth details that enable orthodontists to properly diagnose and resolve soft-tissue oral diseases and other visible surface problems. The desire to maximize image quality means that standard chromium or stainless-steel mirrors will often fall short of the reflectivity and ruggedness required in a dental office setting.
Using metal-coating processes involving a combination of physical vapor deposition and electroplating, rhodium-coated RioFoto dental mirrors from EMF (Ithaca, NY), a Dynasil company, feature better reflectivity (73%) over the visible 450–650 nm range—around 10% higher than stainless steel (64%) and chromium (63%) mirrors. And, while all dental mirrors pass the MIL-M-13508C moderate abrasion test, RioFoto dental mirrors pass the more stringent MIL-C-675C severe abrasion test. Besides enabling long life and real-world wear and tear, the severe abrasion test is important for dental mirrors that are often sterilized in high-temperature autoclave machines between applications. The mirror designs include buccal, lingual, and occlusal among standard offerings; custom mirror designs and sizes are available upon request. Reference: http://bit.ly/Dynasil.
