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Updated: May 30, 2026
X-ray Dose Reduction through Adaptive Exposure in Fluoroscopic Imaging
Published on: September 11, 2011
Significant reduction in dental cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) eye dose through the use of leaded glasses
R Prins1, L T Dauer, D C Colosi
1Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
Objective:
In light of the increased recognition of the potential for lens opacification after low-dose radiation exposures, we investigated the effect of leaded eyeglasses worn during dental cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) procedures on the radiation absorbed dose to the eye and suggest simple methods to reduce risk of radiation cataract development.
Study Design:
Dose measurements were conducted with the use of 3 anthropomorphic phantoms: male (Alderson radiation therapy phantom), female (CIRS), and juvenile male (CIRS). All exposures were performed on the same dental CBCT machine (Imtec, Ardmore, OK) using 2 different scanning techniques but with identical machine parameters (120 kVp, 3.8 mA, 7.8 s). Scans were performed with and without leaded glasses and repeated 3 times. All measurements were recorded using calibrated thermoluminescent dosimeters and optical luminescent dosimetry.
Results:
Leaded glasses worn by adult and pediatric patients during CBCT scans may reduce radiation dose to the lens of the eye by as much as 67% (from 0.135 ± 0.004 mGy to 0.044 ± 0.002 mGy in pediatric patients).
Conclusions:
Leaded glasses do not appear to have a deleterious effect on the image quality in the area of clinical significance for dental imaging.
