[Quality of dental radiographs. A sample from 52 general practices]

To assess the quality of dental radiographs in general practice, 1000 radiographs in 52 practices were collected and evaluated. The radiographs were judged by two examiners using standard series of X-ray film, showing different degrees of the nine different types of errors studied. Furthermore, the diagnostic quality was assessed; if the diagnostic value was poor, the cause was registered. Only 3.1% of the investigated radiographs met all the criteria, and the quality of 13.4% was found to be poor. The main causes were filmpositioning, density and errors in the category 'residual'. It also appeared that a combination of errors in one radiograph, which were individually not very serious, resulted in an unacceptable radiograph.