Extraoral and CBCT dental exposures in Portugal

Dental radiography is the most frequently conducted X-ray examination and accounts for, at least, one-third of all radiological examinations in most countries (1).

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Although not as frequent as intraoral radiography, but with greater radiation dose, panoramic radiography is used to view teeth and jaw bones in a single image, using a narrow beam rotating around the patient’s head.

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Some units are equipped with fixed-arm detectors for cephalometric radiography, lateral and posteroanterior / anteroposterior (PA/AP) images of the skull at fixed distance, for orthodontic analysis.

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Starting in the early 2000s, cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) equipment allowed for digital volumetric tomography in dental practices, using a cone or pyramid-shaped X-ray beam and a flat-panel detector, to create 3D imaging of structures of the dentomaxillofacial region.

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Effective dose from dental CBCT can exceed from 5 to 40 times the dose from dental panoramic radiography (2).

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Read more in the file attached below.