How to take your monitoring photos

Your orthodontist tracks aligner progress from five phone photos; this guide shows how to line each one up with the on-screen guide and send the round for your dental case.

Audience: Patients in clear-aligner treatment whose orthodontist or dentist asked you to send in progress photos regularly so they can check your progress between visits.

You'll come away knowing: what your phone does at each step, how to line your mouth up to the on-screen guide, what to do if a photo looks off, and how to send them in. The whole thing takes about a minute once you've done it once.

Time required: Around three minutes the very first time, including signing in. About one minute every time after that.

Before you start

You need:

The reminder email from Cympha telling you it's time for your next set of monitoring photos.
The same email address your doctor invited you with. If you sign in with a different one, you won't see the plan they set up for you.
A phone with a working front camera and a steady hand — or a friend's hand. The photos work fine on a phone you already have; no special device is needed.
A bathroom mirror or any room with soft overhead light is helpful but not required.

You do not need to install anything. The whole flow happens in your phone's browser.

Step 1 — Open the link in the email

Tap Take photos now in the reminder email. The link opens your browser and signs you in. If it's been a while, you might be asked for your password — the same one you set up the first time your doctor shared your plan.

Step 2 — Confirm the step you're on

A small box at the top of the page shows your current treatment step (for example, "Step 3 — Continue"). Cympha pre-fills this for you, so you usually don't need to change it.

If you bumped to a new tray earlier or later than expected, tap the box and pick the right step. If you're not sure, just leave it — your doctor will see the photos either way.

Tap Continue.

Step 3 — Take the Front photo

The page shows five circles labelled Front · Left · Right · Upper · Lower, plus a Save button at the bottom. Each circle is one photo orientation.

Tap Front. Three things happen:

The 3D model on screen rotates to show what the front of your teeth should look like at your current step.
The phone's camera opens.
The planned jaws appear faintly behind what the camera sees, like a translucent guide.

Hold the phone close to your mouth — near enough that your mouth fills the frame. Open your mouth so your top and bottom teeth show. Move the phone (or your head) until your real teeth line up with the faint guide.

When the alignment looks right, tap the round shutter button.

Tap Use photo. The Front circle turns green with an OK tick.

If you don't like the shot, tap Retake. You can take as many tries as you want; only the one you accept gets saved.

Step 4 — Take the other four photos

Tap Left. The model rotates to show the left buccal view. Tilt your head right (or angle the phone left) so the inside of your left cheek shows. Use cheek retractors or your thumb to pull the lip out of the way if your camera can't see the back teeth.

Snap. Tap Use photo. Left turns green.

Tap Right, repeat. Tap Lower — tilt your head back, open wide, camera looks up at the upper teeth's bite surface. Tap Upper — tilt your head forward, camera looks down at the lower teeth's bite surface.

Five circles, all green.

Step 5 — Tap Save

When all five circles are green, the Save button at the bottom of the page turns blue and active. Tap it.

You'll see a progress bar for a few seconds while your photos upload, then a Done screen with a short thank-you.

That's it. The next reminder arrives on the schedule your doctor set.

What happens next

Your doctor sees the photos. When your doctor opens your case, your photos sit next to the 3D plan at each step — so what your teeth actually look like sits beside what they were supposed to look like.
A reminder lands when you're due. The cadence is set by your doctor for your case.
If you skip a round. You can pick up wherever you are; you don't lose your spot.

What good photos look like

Mouth fills the frame. Roughly the same size as the 3D guide on screen. Don't shoot from across the room.
No tongue blocking the teeth. Push your tongue down to the floor of your mouth before each snap.
Lips out of the way for buccal views. Use a thumb or a cheek retractor. The doctor needs to see the back teeth, not your lip.
Soft, even light. Natural daylight in a bathroom mirror works well. Direct overhead lamp is OK. Phone flash makes things shiny and washed out.

The first round is often the roughest. It gets quicker and cleaner each time.

Troubleshooting

The link from the email says it expired. Reminder links don't last forever. Reply to the email and ask your doctor to send a fresh one, or sign in directly at app.cympha.com and find the case under My cases.

My phone won't open the camera in the browser. Your browser may be blocking camera access. In Chrome or Safari, tap the address bar's lock icon and allow camera permissions, then refresh.

The 3D guide doesn't appear behind the camera view. Some older phones don't support the overlay. The flow still works — you can take the five photos at the listed orientations, lining up against the plain 3D model on screen instead of the live overlay.

I tapped Save but the upload spinner runs forever. Check your WiFi or cellular signal — the photos are bigger than a text message. If you're outside or on a weak signal, try again once you're connected.

One of my photos came out blurry. Tap the green circle for that orientation to retake just that one. You don't have to redo all five.

I want to send extra photos (a chip, a popped attachment). Don't try to attach extras through this flow — it's designed for the five standard orientations. Text or email your doctor the extra shot and explain what they're looking at.

Where your photos go

Your photos land on your case in Cympha, next to your treatment plan, for your doctor to review. Questions about how your records are handled belong to your doctor's practice — ask them directly.

Related how-to: see I got an invite from my dentist — how do I open my plan? if you haven't set up your Cympha account yet.

Last updated 2026-07-30.