Brazilian young dental practitioners' use and acceptance of digital radiographic examinations

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate the use and acceptance of digital radiographic examinations by Brazilian dental practitioners in daily practice and to evaluate the advances that have occurred over the past 5 years.Materials and MethodsDental practitioners enrolled in extension courses at the Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Brazil, responded to a self-administered questionnaire in the years 2011 and 2015. They were asked about sociodemographic factors and their knowledge and use of digital radiographic examinations. Descriptive analysis was performed, as well as the chi-square and Fisher exact tests, with a significance level of 5% (α=0.05).ResultsA total of 181 participants responded to the questionnaire in the years 2011 and 2015. Most of the respondents worked in private practice, had graduated within the last 5 years, and were between 20 and 30 years old. In 2011, 55.6% of respondents reported having ever used digital radiographic examinations, while in 2015 this number increased significantly to 85.4% (p<.0001), out of which 71.4% preferred it to conventional images. Moreover, 21.4% of respondents reported having used digital radiographic examinations for more than 3 years. A significant increase in use of intraoral digital radiography (p=0.0316) was observed in 2015. In both years, image quality and high cost were indicated, respectively, as the main advantage and disadvantage of digital radiographic examinations.ConclusionThis study showed that digital radiology has become more common in Brazil over the past 5 years. Most of the Brazilian dental practitioners evaluated in 2015 used digital radiographic examinations.

Influence of brightness and contrast adjustments on the diagnosis of proximal caries lesions

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Brightness and contrast adjustments influence the radiographic detection of soft tissue calcification

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Comparison of Efficiency and Image Quality of Photostimulable Phosphor Plate and Charge‐Coupled Device Receptors in Dental Radiography

“…A survey conducted in the United Kingdom found that 49% of general dental practitioners in the study used digital intraoral radiography in 2011 1 . In Brazil, the percentage of participating young dental practitioners using digital radiography increased significantly from 55.6% in 2011 to 85.4% in 2015 2 . A more recent study conducted in 2018 found that 98% of responding dentists in Sweden had made the transition to digital radiography, with only 2% still using the film technique 3 …”