Oral Radiology Safety Standards Adopted by the General Dentists Practicing in National Capital Region (NCR)

Abstract

Introduction: With advancement in diagnostic techniques, the utilization of radiologic examination has risen to many folds in the last two decades. Ionizing radiations from the radiographic examination carry the potential for harm by inducing carcinogenesis in addition to the diagnostic information extracted. Radiation doses utilized in the course of dental treatment might be low for individual examinations but patients are exposed to repeated examinations very often and many people are exposed during the course of dental care. Therefore, principles of radiation protection and safety are necessary for the dentists to follow to ensure minimum and inevitable exposure. Aim:The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and behaviour of general dentists practicing in the National Capital Region (NCR) regarding radiation safety during oral radiographic procedures. Materials and Methods:The study was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study. A total of 500 general dentists were contacted to participate in the study. The target population entailed of general dentists practicing in the National Capital Region. Data was computed and tabulated in Microsoft excel sheet and statistical analysis was performed with the help of SPSS version 21.0. Results:The total response rate recovered was 70.6% and the respondents comprised of 59% and 41% males & females respectively. Only 64.8% of the general dentists contemplated thyroid to be the most important organ for radiation protection. Only 28.8% of the general dentists followed the position & distance rule appropriately. Conclusion:The results showed that the knowledge and behaviour of the general dentists and the practices adopted by them regarding radiation safety is not satisfactory. To ensure the following of basic and necessary guidelines for radiation safety and protection, strict rules with penalties should be implemented by the state councils and new and interesting methods of education for this spectrum of the field should be introduced.

Factors determining Radiation Protection Practices among Indian General Dental Practitioners: An Explorative Study

“…3,4 Majority of the present study subjects (94.3%) were of the opinion that routine radiographs should not be taken for all the patients, and most of them did not take routine full mouth (98.8%) and panoramic radiographs (95.4%) for their patients. These reports confirm the findings of Shahab et al 12 and Chaudhry et al 13 Lee and Ludlow, 14 however, reported that 34.1% of their study subjects preferred prescription of routine radiographs for their patients. Majority of the present study subjects thought that during pregnancy, only in case of emergencies, radiograph can be taken with appropriate radiation protection measures.…”

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13] Although fewer studies are conducted in India pertaining to radiation protection, in-depth exploratory studies are sparse. There is need to identify the lacunae in radiation protection practices, so that the newer policies can be bought in or the existing ones could be reinforced according to the changes required.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] Despite the availability of various guidelines, literature reveals lack of compliance among practicing dentists toward the dose-reduction techniques. [8][9][10][11][12][13] As a result, it is essential to identify the factors that influence compliance with radiation protection measures among dental practitioners, which might pave the way for better acceptance of radiation protection techniques among its end users. There is definite dearth of studies that comprehensively investigate factors related to radiation protection practices among general dental practitioners (GDPs) in the Indian context.…”

Os serviços odontológicos e as medidas de radioproteção

“…Em contrapartida, alguns dentistas e/ou membros da equipe posicionam pessoalmente o filme radiográfico na cavidade oral do paciente, o que contradiz as normas de radioproteção 4 . Um estudo realizado na Índia observou que apenas 28,8% dos cirurgiões-dentistas obedeciam a distância preconizada entre operador e equipamento 19 . Outro método de radioproteção para operador é a blindagem, a qual consiste em barreiras constituídas de chumbo que atenuam os feixes de raios X. Ainda assim, há relatos de que uma pequena parcela dos dentistas se importa com a correta proteção nos consultórios odontológicos, enquanto outros se protegem de forma inadequada, com paredes sem barita de chumbo ou por distanciamento ineficaz, o que contradiz as medidas regulamentadoras da Portaria 453/1998 4,17 .…”

Knowledge, Awareness And Practice of Sudanese Dentists Towards Oral Radiology And Protective Guidelines

“…Unfortunately, only 20.7% used lead aprons on a regular basis which was almost similar to that obtained from study in Korea with a percentage of 21.7%, [11] and also agrees with a related study carried out among the Belgian dentists manifesting that 88% of dentists did not use lead aprons regularly. [18] This might be due to a lack of strict regulations regarding safe practice [19] or unavailability of lead aprons. In general, the results reflected poor awareness toward x-ray exposure and precautions, similar results revealed from others, [1,3,10] but from the literature; one study concluded that radiation protection measures were more significant amongst clinical specialists.…”