Apply principles of radiation biology and protection in dental practice

This document discusses the principles of radiation biology and protection in dental practice. It covers the considerations for maintaining radiation protection for patients and the implications of film speed on radiation exposure. Two case studies are provided for further understanding.

HLTDEN007 Apply the principles of radiation biology and protection in dental practice
Case Study v 1.4 (2017/08/22)
HLTDEN007 Apply the principles of radiation biology and
protection in dental practice
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Assessment
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Please read through the following case studies. Reflect on your learning and your own research.
You may wish to review units of competency already completed when preparing responses. Your
response must reflect your knowledge, skills, and application for this unit.
Case Study 1
You have been asked to prepare a patient for intraoral X-rays.
Explain what you need to consider in order to maintain paramount radiation protection for the
patient. What implications does film speed have on potential radiation exposure?
Medical Imaging is an important tool which helps the modern healthcare processes to enhance
the ability of the diagnostic process and treatment procedure and increase the reach of the
intervention to each person of the society (Johns 2017). This process requires ionizing radiations
which require specific and proper management strategy so that patients could be protected from
adverse effects of this radiation (Sun, AbAziz and Khairuddin Md Yusof 2013). Therefore, in order
to maintain paramount radiation protection in dentistry, it is important for the professionals
carrying out the process to be aware of the processes that could protect the patients from the
radiation (Khong et al. 2013). To protect the patients, from radiation, the diagnostic information
will be provided to patients and everyone associated in the process such as dentists, patients,
operators and owner of the facility will be provided with their responsibilities so that radiation
could be controlled (Sun, AbAziz and Khairuddin Md Yusof 2013).
Speed of the film depends on the instrument used by the operator, the type of film required and
the speed of the cassette. There are manufacturers that provide images produced with 200, 400
and 800 photographic speed (Bushong 2013). It has been seen in the researches that higher speed
could decrease the chance of radiation by 50% and hence, decreases the potential risk
significantly. The clinical filming range falls between 100 to 400 and the lower range of speed
such as 50, is used for the detail imaging techniques so that extremities in the body could be
observed. Therefore, extreme film speed is associated with less amount of exposure to the
radiation (White and Pharoah 2014).
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HLTDEN007 Apply the principles of radiation biology and protection in dental practice
Case Study v 1.4 (2017/08/22)
Case Study 2
You have been asked by your operator to view and assess several X-rays recently taken. You are
to use a reference X-ray for comparison. You notice that of two films processed manually, one
has been overexposed whilst another has film fog. Moreover, a film processed using an
automatic processor is underexposed.
Answer the following questions:
• What is a reference X-ray, how is it produced, and what purpose does it have in the surgery?
Reference x rays are defined as the reference Image of a healthy individual’s x ray image, which is
used by the healthcare professionals to compare with the patients X-ray reports so that present
abnormalities could be detected within the patient’s body (Holle and Andersson 2012). These are
reference plates which provide as a reference for comparison to which, it becomes easier for the
healthcare professionals to understand the abnormalities present in patient’s body.
This technique is an easy and helpful way to understand the human body and associated
abnormalities (Berris et al. 2016). This is the tool using which surgeons are able to understand the
presence of foreign materials, dental decay, bone related fracture and tumours present in the
human body (Jones and Jackson 2012). Therefore, it helps the physicians or dentists to
understand the type of fracture or injury present in the human body and the degree of
intervention required to improve the patient condition (Berris et al. 2016). X-ray is produced by an
x-ray tube which is a vacuum tube that uses high voltage electricity to produce the accelerated
electrons through a high velocity cathode. Further when these electrodes collide with a metallic
target, it produces the x-ray which is used in the healthcare industry for medical imaging as a
diagnostic tool (Jones and Jackson 2012).
• For each X-ray outlined above, describe what may have caused the processing error and how
it could be corrected.
There are several errors present in the X-ray film which occurs due to the perpendicular angle of
the X-ray beam due to which the angle required for the production of appropriate films for dental
surgery. In the above-mentioned case study, two x-ray films were provided in which one of the x-
ray was found as film fog (Monaco et al. 2013). As per Jayasinghe, Weerakoon and Perera (2015),
the reason of film fog was chemical reactions that forms catalytic development centers in the
emulsion layer of the film, by unwanted exposure to radiation while forming the plate and formed
due to the attack of the developer on silver halide crystals that lacks the catalytic development
centres. Further due to this error, improper vertical angle produced which causes further error in
the medical image produced after x ray.
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