A STUDY ON THE SCATTER RADIATION AFFECTING THE DENTAL X-RAY FILM

산란 방사선이 치과용 방사선 필름에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of scatter radiation to dental x-ray film with long time-exposure in the different structures of the tooth, by using pinhole camera. For this study, pinhole camera, skull with tooth, and pocket dosimeter were used. The radiation with 70 and 90kVp and exposure time (minimum: 2.5 min., maximum 10 hrs.) was projected to the film in the pinhole camera. And density of the obtained x-ray film was measured with densitometer. In the intra-oral film taking, the amount of exposure of the scatter radiation affecting the thyroid gland area was measured with the dosimeter at the thyroid gland. The density of radiographs was compared in radiation projected with or without the metal cone of dental machine. The effect of the back scatter radiation to the film was also evaluated when the lead foil was removed. The obtained results were as follows: 1. A pinhole camera was a valuable device for locating the source of x-ray. 2. The scatter radiation affected the dental x-ray film when the radiation source was exposed. more than 5 hours'. In that case, the density of the scatter radiation could be observed visually. 3. The scatter radiation caused by short exposure of dental radiation didn't affect the diagnostic quality of the dental x-ray film. 4. The differences of densities between the tooth and the soft tissue according to exposure time showed 0.16 in 5 hours' exposure & 0.17 in 10 hours' exposure at 70 kVp & 0.12 in 5 hours' exposure & 0.13 in 10 hours' exposure at the 90kVp. 5. The differences of densities between the tooth and the soft tissue according to kVp showed no difference between 5 hours' exposure of tooth at 70 kVp and soft tissue at 90 kVp, but showed 0.05 high density in tooth when 10 hours' exposure at 90 kVp. 6. No difference of density was on radiographs taken with or without dental machine cone. 7. Back scatter radiation was recorded image of radiographs for only 3 min. 8. The amounts of the scatter radiation exposed to the thyroid gland in intraoral film taking were 1.12 mr in upper anterior, 0.55 mr in upper posterior, 2.75 mr in lower anterior, and 1.92 mr in lower posterior teeth.