title: Influence of lead apron shielding on absorbed doses from panoramic radiography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the absorbed doses in a full anthropomorphic body phantom from two different panoramic radiography devices, performing protocols with and without applying a lead apron.
  
  
  METHODS
  A RANDO(®) full body phantom (Alderson Research Laboratories Inc., Stamford, CT) was equipped with 110 thermoluminescent dosemeters at 55 different sites and set up in two different panoramic radiography devices [SCANORA(®) three-dimensional (3D) (SOREDEX, Tuusula, Finland) and ProMax(®) 3D (Planmeca, Helsinki, Finland)] and exposed. Two different protocols were performed in the two devices. The first protocol was performed without any lead shielding, whereas the phantom was equipped with a standard adult lead apron for the second protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A two-tailed paired samples t-test for the SCANORA 3D revealed that there is no difference between the protocol using lead apron shielding (m = 87.99, s = 102.98) and the protocol without shielding (m = 87.34, s = 107.49), t(54) = -0.313, p > 0.05. The same test for the ProMax 3D showed that there is also no difference between the protocol using shielding (m = 106.48, s = 117.38) and the protocol without shielding (m = 107.75, s = 114,36), t(54) = 0.938, p > 0.05.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, the results of this study showed no statistically significant differences between a panoramic radiography with or without the use of lead apron shielding.
authors.affiliation: Dental Diagnostic Center, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rottke
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grossekettler
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poxleitner
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schulze
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital / Q000295:instrumentation; D011862:Radiography, Panoramic; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000295:instrumentation
keywords: dentistry; radiation protection; radiography, panoramic; thermoluminescent dosimetry