Radiation awareness among dentists, radiographers and students

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess radiation awareness among dentists, radiographers, dentistry students and radiography students from the Medical University of Warsaw. METHODS: A questionnaire containing 13 multiple-choice questions was administered to 200 dentists, 200 radiographers, 100 dentistry students and 100 radiography students. Participants were asked about basic knowledge concerning dental radiological examinations. RESULTS: In total, 301 (50.2%) questionnaires were returned. The mean score of correct answers was 8.13 out of 13 for all responders; 8.36 for dentists, 8.11 for radiographers, 8.19 for dentistry students and 7.46 for radiography students. Range of correct answers varied from 3 to 12. Differences between the four main groups were not statistically significant. Dentists who had completed radiation protection training had significantly higher number of correct answers than untrained dentists. For radiographers, the level of education had no connection with the results. Correlation between year of the study and results was not visible in the dentistry student group. Within the radiography student group, students in the third year of the study had significantly higher number of correct answers than those in the first and second years of the study. CONCLUSIONS: Our survey shows that radiation awareness among dentists, radiographers and students is inadequate, without significant differences in the main groups. Dentists who had completed radiation protection training had better awareness than those without such training. Greater emphasis should be put on the dental radiology course in both dentistry and radiography programmes at universities.