title: Brazilian young dental practitioners' use and acceptance of digital radiographic examinations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the use and acceptance of digital radiographic examinations by Brazilian dental practitioners in daily practice and to evaluate the advances that have occurred over the past 5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dental practitioners enrolled in extension courses at the Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas, Brazil, responded to a self-administered questionnaire in the years 2011 and 2015. They were asked about sociodemographic factors and their knowledge and use of digital radiographic examinations. Descriptive analysis was performed, as well as the chi-square and Fisher exact tests, with a significance level of 5% (α=0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 181 participants responded to the questionnaire in the years 2011 and 2015. Most of the respondents worked in private practice, had graduated within the last 5 years, and were between 20 and 30 years old. In 2011, 55.6% of respondents reported having ever used digital radiographic examinations, while in 2015 this number increased significantly to 85.4% (p<.0001), out of which 71.4% preferred it to conventional images. Moreover, 21.4% of respondents reported having used digital radiographic examinations for more than 3 years. A significant increase in use of intraoral digital radiography (p=0.0316) was observed in 2015. In both years, image quality and high cost were indicated, respectively, as the main advantage and disadvantage of digital radiographic examinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that digital radiology has become more common in Brazil over the past 5 years. Most of the Brazilian dental practitioners evaluated in 2015 used digital radiographic examinations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rovaris
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Faria Vasconcelos
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eduarda Helena Leandro
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: do Nascimento
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Matheus Lima
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Deborah Queiroz
authors.initials: DQ
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Division of Oral Radiology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haiter-Neto
keywords: Dentists; General Practice, Dental; Knowledge; Radiography, Digital, Dental