title: DOSE REFERENCE LEVELS IN SPANISH INTRAORAL DENTAL RADIOLOGY: STABILISATION OF THE INCORPORATION OF DIGITAL SYSTEMS IN DENTAL CLINICAL PRACTICES.
abstract: A total of 34 044 official quality assurance reports in dental radiodiagnostic surgery from 16 regions of Spain, compiled from 2002 to 2014, were studied in order to determine the progress of diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for obtaining diagnostic images under normal conditions for clinical practice in Spanish dental clinics. A DRL of 2.8 mGy was set in 2014, which represents a 41.7 % decrease compared with that of 2002 (4.8 mGy). Over the same time period, the mean dose fell by 55.2 %. However, over the last 3 y, the stabilisation of the mean dose administered to patients has been observed with only a 6.7 % reduction in DRLs, which corresponds to the stabilisation of dental radiodiagnostic surgery on replacing the use of radiographic film with digital imaging systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine/Dentistry, University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, Murcia 30100, Spain mab@um.es.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alcaraz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine/Dentistry, University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, Murcia 30100, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine/Dentistry, University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, Murcia 30100, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olivares
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine/Dentistry, University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, Murcia 30100, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine/Dentistry, University of Murcia, Campus Espinardo, Murcia 30100, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canteras
mesh_terms: D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000592:standards*; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000592:standards*; D019252:Radiography, Dental, Digital / Q000592:standards; D011871:Radiology / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013030:Spain