Preliminary Review of Local Diagnostic Reference Level (DRLS) for Government Healthcare Dental Centres in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

Radiological examinations and studies are used in the medical field. Radiographs play an important role in today’s medicine, especially for dental diagnosis. Ionizing radiation is well known for being used in dental imaging. According to the as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) concept for radiation protection, dentists must expose patients to the least amount of radiation while providing appropriate imaging quality. Dental radiology's technological development began after 1919, when adequate electrical insulation made intraoral imaging techniques safe to perform. In the 1960s, panoramic dental imaging began to be made available to the public, whereas computed tomography has been used since the 1970s. Therefore, establishing diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) is one method to ensure a healthcare provider's optimal performance when using ionizing radiation procedures.