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VOLUME 8 , ISSUE 2 ( July-December, 2019 ) > List of Articles

REVIEW ARTICLE

A Scoping Review on Dental Students' Knowledge and Awareness on Radiation Protection

Sundaramoorthy Tamijeselvan, Balachandra V Adkoli, Vivekanandan Ravichandran

Keywords : Awareness, Dental students, India, Knowledge, Radiation protection

Citation Information : Tamijeselvan S, Adkoli BV, Ravichandran V. A Scoping Review on Dental Students' Knowledge and Awareness on Radiation Protection. 2019; 8 (2):26-29.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10085-8115

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 30-07-2020

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2019; The Author(s).


Abstract

Background: The frequent use of dental radiography is one of the major causes of the increasing medical radiation exposure of the general population. Consequently, radiation protection is a topic of scientific and public concern. Aim: We evaluated the available research article on dental students' awareness regarding radiation protection while taking dental radiography. Materials and methods: A scoping review was performed using the available databases. A total of 452 references were found. Only five primary studies assessing the dental students’ awareness about the radiation protection were included and analyzed. Results: Knowledge of dental students about the radiation protection principle, as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), varies from 37.4 to 70%. The knowledge about the regulatory authorities like ICRP, NCRP, and AERB ranges from 5 to 54%. Most of the selected articles show the knowledge about the digital radiography is below 50% (ranges from 23 to 47%) among the dental students. It is very surprising to know that the knowledge of the usage of protective devices like lead apron is very low among the dental students. It lies between 20% and 40%. The knowledge of usage of the personnel monitoring devices among the dental students is average. It ranges between 40% and 70%. Conclusion: Knowledge gaps concerning the awareness of radiation protection among the dental students are evident from published research. The knowledge on radiation protection can be improved by conducting seminars and workshops on radiation protection on dental radiography.


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