Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Radiation Protection among Dental Students

Abstract

Radiology is one the key cornerstone of investigation in Dentistry. The application of radiology in Dental practice has grown by leaps and bounds in the years gone by. Along with this there is an increase in the number of radiation hazards.  The effect of  radiation  on  human  beings  is  very  negative. This survey was conducted with the intent of studying the awareness and knowledge of radiation protection in practice. The survey consisted of 10 closed ended questions which were circulated among 100 interns of a dental college. The data collected was entered into microsoft excel and the data was analysed for an association between the gender and the responses using Chi-square analysis. The majority of the participants were females and they believed that radiation causes harm to humans and surprisingly they had also believed that ionised radiation remains suspended in the air after making a radiographic exposure where there was no statistically significant difference between the genders(p>0.05). The questions also assessed whether a clinical examination is advised before a radiographic examination and the majority were of the view it is necessary which was statistically significant(p<0.05). From this study we could infer that students are well aware of the adverse effects of radiation but in terms of safety practices being followed in Dental clinics, there are some pitfalls noticeable.