In 1998, the Brazilian Ministry of Health established the Guidelines for Protection in Medical and Odontological Radiography, aimed at ensuring the quality of radiological procedures provided to the population as well as radiological protection for the health professionals. The purpose of this study was to verify the current situation in the dental offices with regard to the technical specifications and the adopted protective measures, using a questionnaire including questions about equipments, techniques and radiological protection. The investigated universe consisted of the surgeon dentists of the city of Aracaju using radiographic examination as a routine, resulting in a final sample of 103 professionals. The results showed that a high percentage of these professionals ignore the current norms (64,1%) as well as the technical specifications of their equipment (51,5% ignored the peak kilovoltage and 57,3% the milliamperage of their equipment), besides examining the radiographs visually (67%) As positive behaviors, the paralleling technique was preferred by 62,1% and the lead apron was used by 98,1%. We conclude that, despite the limited knowledge about the Guidelines, some measures are being correctly adopted but that the dentists have to be more aware of the necessary protective measures.
Radiology; Standards; Radiation protection; Radiography; Dental