Selection Criteria in Dental Radiography

This is a seminal publication of the Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK) of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

The publication marked the standardisation of dental radiography and now provides the dental profession with a set of evidence based criteria in order to minimse radiation exposure to dental patients and staff.

Key recommendations were in the area of bitewing radiography where intervals between bitewing screening radiographs checking for dental caries between teeth were recommended based on patient risk of disease. The patient is considered to be either High, medium or low risk of dental decay. The interval between bitewings is recommended to be either 6, 12 or 18 months plus accordingly.

The effect of this has been to ensure that via a process of clinical governance and clinical audit, the number of radiation exposures to patients is minimised, while allowing clinical decisions to be made based on good radiographs, improving patient outcomes.

The second edition of 'Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography' has been fully revised and updated. Several sections have been updated in light of new evidence and research findings while others, such as the use of digital radiography, have been expanded to reflect an increasing use in general dental practice. These selection criteria also conform to the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2000, and help practitioners form a sound basis for clinical decisions.

Famous quotes containing the words selection, criteria and/or dental:

    Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection determined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it did that of species.
    Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989)

    Every sign is subject to the criteria of ideological evaluation.... The domain of ideology coincides with the domain of signs. They equate with one another. Wherever a sign is present, ideology is present, too. Everything ideological possesses semiotic value.
    —V.N. (Valintin Nikolaevic)

    [T]hose wholemeal breads ... look hand-thrown, like studio pottery, and are fine if you have all your teeth. But if not, then not. Perhaps the rise ... of the ... factory-made loaf, which may easily be mumbled to a pap betweeen gums, reflects the sorry state of the nation’s dental health.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)