The assessment of knowledge of general dental practitioners of Tabriz about risk of diagnostic dental radiation

Abstract

Some of the visitors of dental offices are pregnant women and in the most cases taking radiographic images is necessary. Knowledge of safe time of treatment in pregnants is important. Embryo is very sensitive in early stages of pregnancy than later stages. Diagnostic dental x-ray result in no special abnormality considering it's amount is below 10 rad. The aim of the present study is to evaluation the level of general dental practitioners's knowledge about risk of diagnostic x Eray in pregnant women in Tabriz. Method & materials: In this cross- sectional descriptive study 250 dental practitioners were selected from participant of continuing dental education programs. Data was collected by means of self Eadministered questionnaire, which consisted of 10 questions to evaluate awareness of radiation risk. Data was analyzed with spearman's correlation coefficient using SPSS 13.0 software. In this study P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean number of correct answers was 6.471.66. The least number of correct answers was 2 and the most of them was 10. The maximum level of knowledge was about using lead apron (92%) and the minimal level of knowledge about using long cone square collimator (3.2%). There was statistically significant differences between age (P=0.005) and knowledge of radiation risk. There were no statistically significant differences between work experience (P=0.25), their participating in continuing dental education programs (P=0.16) and knowledge of radiation risk. Conclusion: Dentist's knowledge about dose rate result in developmental abnormalities & mental disorders was not enough. Their knowledge about some of the principles of radiation protection, including use of lead apron and replacement of processing solution was acceptable. But unfortunately their knowledge about use of high speed films and square collimator that have a more important role was not enough.