A study on reducing radiation dose in dental radiography for children, 2

Although it is well understood that diagnostic dental radiographic examination is an indispensible procedure of the dental examination, it always carries the danger of radiation harm especially to the pedodontic patients who are more radiosensitive than the adult group. At the time of exposure, in specific, certain undeveloped tissues such as the thyroid (reverting postmitotic cells), the optic lens, and the reproductive cells (gonads) must be shielded from any unnecessary radiation. In this study, using the pedodontic intraoral radiographic examination method, four various cervical shields of four separate manufacturers were investigated. With the aid of the Thermo Luminescent Dosimeter (TLD), the specific exposure doses to the thyroid gland region were analyzed. At the same time, individual cervical shield's adaptation to the neck was examined. The results were as follows: (1) Even with the use of the cervical shield, maximum dose of 98.64 ± 11.13 mR (lower molar periapical radiography method), and minimum of 34.27 ± 6.69 mR (lower anterior periapical radiography method) were obtained at the thyroid gland region. (2) It was discovered that poor adaptation of the cervical shield to the neck and also poor adaptation of the long cones (position indicating devices, PID) occured upon patient opening his/her mouth. (author)