[en] The patients dose in taking dental x-rays is formed by exposure to both direct irradiation and scattered rays. The latter conditions accumulation of relatively large doses in some critical organs, such as thyroid gland, active bone marrow, including distant ones as gonads. Panoramic techniques issued in total dental status assessment reduce considerable radiation exposure of the patients, as compared to standard x-ray equipment (2 to 20 times). The panoramic technique accounts for minimum absorbed dose by adjacent organs and reduces external skin dose by 90 per cent. Practical implementation of digital x-ray machines in dentistry decreases the patient dose by 70-80 per cent, improves the image quality and enables image storage filing. Basic organisational, administrative and technical measures promoting patient dose reduction are suggested. (author)