[Effective dose equivalent following radiographic examination of edentulous patient treated by osseointegrated...

A survey was made of the total number of extraoral and intraoral exposures performed during the preoperative, intermediate and control phases in treatment of patients with osseointegrated implants ad modum Brånemark according to the routine procedures used at the Department of Radiology, Royal Dental College, Copenhagen. Dose values from literature were used for calculation of total effective dose equivalent. The sum of examinations comprised 16 extraoral and 231 intraoral films for a patient treated with 6 maxillary and 6 mandibular implants. The total dose over a 7-year-period amounted to approximately 1.7 mSv (0.25 mSv per year). Considering that the natural radiation in Denmark results in an annual dose of 3 mSv per inhabitant and many medical radiographic examinations result in effective dose equivalents of 3-6 mSv, the dose following the treatment with implants appear to be of a moderate magnitude. The increased scattering due to the metallic implants does not seem of deleterious significance.