Radiation Safety and Dental Practice provides a detailed guide and excerpts on radiation protection in dental practice. As part of efforts to ensure radiation safety, the chapter details the essential responsibilities anticipated by every X-ray machine registrant and licensed dentist. The staffs are tasked with duty of ensuring adequate safety for the health, life, and protection of every person subjected to radiation exposure. The section also highlights the requirements of a dental radiographic machine, which include X-ray tube housing, collimating device, X-ray beam filtration, etc.
For instance, the X-ray tube casing should depict a diagnostic type – should be constructed with materials that minimize the possibility of radiation leakage to levels not surpassing 100 mrems per hour in a space of about 1 meter. A collimating device limits the size of the X-ray beam by lowering the total surface area exposed to radiation thereby averting possible exposure of sensitive body parts such as eye lenses and thyroid glands. Clinically, lowering the X-ray beam length enhanced the quality of the diagnostic image by reducing the total image degradation triggered by scatter radiation. X-ray beam filtration seeks to absorb favorably low-energy rays that have no impact on image generation but can cause tissue damage.
Patient protection is further emphasized in the chapter by detailing requirements that will guarantee safety. These procedures range from the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and storage of radioactive elements to constant evaluation of the PPE to establish tears to inform replacement among other strategies. For example, vinyl aprons or lead-impregnated leather should be used to cover sensitive places such as the reproductive organ of the patient.
Institutionalization of quality control and quality assurance should also form part of radiation safety needs. Specifically, quality assurance activities should be extended to cover X-ray equipment and accompanying ancillary imaging facilities, continuous education of dental personnel on quality control, and scheduled preventive maintenance programs. Moreover, every piece of equipment utilized for generating quality, diagnostic images must be inspected intermittently to guarantee optimum performance.