ESTIMATING RADIATION DOSE TO MAJOR ORGANS IN DENTAL X-RAY EXAMINATIONS: A PHANTOM STUDY.

The radiation doses absorbed by major organs of males and females were studied from three types of dental X-ray devices. The absorbed doses from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), panoramic and intraoral X-ray machines were in the range of 0.23-1314.85 μGy, and were observed to be high in organs and tissues located in or adjacent to the irradiated area, there were discrepancies in organ doses between male and female. Thyroid, salivary gland, eye lens and brain were the organs that received higher absorbed doses. The organ absorbed doses were considerably lower than the diagnostic reference level for dental radiography in China. The calculated effective radiation doses for males and females were 56.63, 8.15, 2.56 μSv and 55.18, 8.99, 2.39 μSv, respectively, when using CBCT, the panoramic X-ray machine and intraoral X-ray machine. The effective radiation dose caused by CBCT was much higher than those of panoramic and intraoral X-ray machines.