Dental radiographic guidelines: a review.

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Dental Public Health
• Radiation Protection

Background:

• The American Dental Association (ADA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established radiographic selection criteria and guidelines to optimize patient radiation exposure.
• Previous guidelines, first published by the FDA in 1987, have undergone several revisions.
• International guidelines from the Canadian Dental Association and European Commission were also considered for comparison.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and compare current (2004 ADA/FDA) radiographic selection criteria with prior guidelines.
• To assess the general compliance with these guidelines within the dental community.
• To inform dental professionals about updated radiation safety recommendations.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature review of publications from the US FDA, US Department of Health and Human Services, and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.
• Comparative analysis of US guidelines with those from the Canadian Dental Association and European Commission.
• Inclusion of recent findings from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) regarding tissue radiosensitivity.

Main Results:

• Recent literature indicates very low compliance with ADA/FDA radiographic guidelines, particularly in dental schools in the US and Canada.
• Compliance outside of academic settings is largely unknown but presumed to be low.
• Revised 2007 ICRP estimates show significantly higher effective doses for dental radiographs compared to 1990 guidelines (32%–422% increase).

Conclusions:

• Adherence to dental radiographic guidelines is critically low among practitioners.
• Updated ICRP findings necessitate a re-evaluation of radiation exposure from dental radiographs.
• Dental healthcare professionals should prioritize following current dental radiographic guidelines for patient safety and effective radiation management.