Comparative Study of the Effective Dose from Panoramic Radiography in Dentistry Measured Using a Radiophotoluminescent Glass Dosimeter and an Optically Stimulated Luminescence Detector

Accurate measurement of the absorbed dose and the effective dose is required in dental panoramic radiography involving relatively low energy with a rotational X-ray tube system using long exposures. To determine the effectiveness of measuring the irradiation by using passive dosimetry, we compared the entrance skin doses by using a radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeter (RPL) and an optically stimulated luminescence detector (OSL) in a phantom model consisting of nine and 31 transverse sections. The parameters of the panoramic device were set to 80 kV, 4 mA, and 12 s in the standard program mode. The X-ray spectrum was applied in the same manner as the panoramic dose by using the SpekCalc Software. The results indicated a mass attenuation coefficient of $0.008226cm^2/g$, and an effective energy of 34 keV. The equivalent dose between the RPL and the OSL was calculated based on a product of the absorbed doses. The density of the aluminum attenuators was $2.699g/cm^3$. During the panoramic examination, tissue absorption doses with regard to the RPL were a surface dose of $75.33{\mu}Gy$ and a depth dose of $71.77{\mu}Gy$, those with regard to the OSL were surface dose of $9.2{\mu}Gy$ a depth dose of $70.39{\mu}Gy$ and a mean dose of $74.79{\mu}Gy$. The effective dose based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 103 tissue weighting factor for the RPL were $0.742{\mu}Sv$, $8.9{\mu}Sv$, $2.96{\mu}Sv$ and those for the OSL were $0.754{\mu}Sv$, $9.05{\mu}Sv$, and $3.018{\mu}Sv$ in the parotid and sublingual glands, orbit, and thyroid gland, respectively. The RPL was more effective than the OSL for measuring the absorbed radiation dose in low-energy systems with a rotational X-ray tube.