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Dental plan to reduce radiation doses to children

Dentists urged to ‘child-size’ radiation doses for young patients Wave News  Oct 06, 2014  LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – The saying goes “The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.” But keeping that smile bright at the wrong hands could hurt your child’s long-term health. That’s the idea behind a new campaign being pushed out to dentists and other dental professionals around the country.

The University of Louisville Dental School’s Director of Radiology and Imaging Science is joining a team of doctors across the country to get that word out to dentists who treat your children………

“They’re up to three to five times as sensitive as myself to radiation,” said dr. William Scarfe, director of Radiology and Imaging Science at UofL’s School of Dentistry.

Scarfe is helping lead an awareness campaign called Image Gently. It asks dentists to consider just how much radiation their young patients are getting.

“Is it necessary is always the first question,” said Scarfe. He says switching from film to digital radiology reduces the dose, as does focusing on a specific region instead of the whole head. “We should reduce the dose to what their size is,” Scarfe said “That’s called child-sizing exposure.”

Parents, Scarfe says, should look for a dentist to use a thyroid collar, a preferred, but not mandated method in Kentucky.”That significantly reduces the dose to children whose thyroids are very sensitive by about 50%,” said Scarfe……….

Scarfe says parents can and should ask questions about the reasons and the way their children are having images taken at the dentist.

The six-step Image Gently plan includes:

• Select x-rays for a patient’s individual needs, not as routine.
• Use the fastest image receptor possible, E- or F-speed film or digital sensors
• Aim the x-ray beam to expose only the area of interest.
• Use thyroid collars
• Child-size the exposure
• Use cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) only when necessary   http://www.wave3.com/story/26716108/dentist-urged-to-child-size-radiation-doses-for-young-patients

October 8, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | children, radiation, USA