The integral dose in panoramic intraoral x-ray tube radiography

A Monte Carlo computer program was developed to estimate the integral dose to the head and thyroid for panoramic intraoral x-ray tube radiography. The advantage of this computer simulation is that it is able to avoid many of the difficulties associated with low-energy and low-dose x-ray dosimetry. The calculations were made for maxillary and mandibular projections separately, using 10 kv. increments between 40 and 60 kv. The results obtained were presented in terms of the integral dose per milliampere second. Typical integral doses for a routine examination of the head are 2.1 mJ. and 8.5 microJ for the thyroid during mandibular radiography and 1.7 microJ for the thyroid during radiography of the maxilla using 55 kv. and 0.5 mAs.