by Leif Kullman
More about radiation safety from SSI
In my last report I promised to tell you more about the new Radiation Safety Rules approved by SSI and EU.
However, when I checked them again I found that only a few interesting things for a GP remain to tell you about ( from the regulations called SSI SFS 2000:2 and 2000:8). So when we have mentioned some few more I will take up some radiation safety matters about digital imaging that I have met here in Saudi Arabia recently.
At first in the regulations different definitions are made about which person is in charge for x-raying in different clinics. In a dental office a dentist must be responsible for all intraoral x-rays exposed with less than 75kV unit.
And a dentist, who has taken a special course in panoramic x-raying must supervise this facility. Later on there is a description about how and when the radiographic equipment shall be checked by a technician. A quality assurance program shall be available in radiology, which encompass both the equipment and the clinic's way of working with x-raying. In number 8 (SSI SFS 2000:8) some things are stressed that we discussed last time namely: regarding the competence of the staff and regarding a radiographic organisation plan and again about quality assurance.
In the future a lot of new things are of course coming all the time within EU in radiology, so we need to be watch out for more later on.
Digital Radiographing and radiation security
Here in the Dental Colleges in Riyadh we have a couple of older RVG digital x-ray units. They are used above all by the dentists and students in the Endodontic Division. A matter that I can understand, it is very convenient of course to get your image immediately during root canal
treatment.
During this year we have started to teach the students about digital imaging in the Radiology Division and I was preparing some practical exercises with these units the other day. I was asking one of the dentists (we were standing at the unit) if we could come with the students to show them how they work. Then I suddenly understood that these dentists sometimes used the unit without leaving the room or without not even moving away from the patient. Upon my question she admitted! I was very surprised of course and have been thinking about it since then. Perhaps dentists in general believe that the radiation is so small in digital x-raying, so that we don´t need our usual precaution activities in radiographing?
Of course it is correct, that in general the radiation is decreased a lot using this facility, at least around one third. But still, it is a radiation dose that will be kept in our bodies and added to other radiation sources in our surroundings. Later on this absorbed dose might trigger a tumor if we are unlucky. I do hope that all general practitioners are aware of these things.
