Effective dose span of ten different cone beam CT devices.

Objectives:Evaluation and reduction of dose are important issues. Since cone beam CT (CBCT) has been established now not just in dentistry, the number of acquired examinations continues to rise. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to compare the doses of available devices on the market owing to different exposition parameters, volumes and geometries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the spans of effective doses (EDs) of ten different CBCT devices.Methods:48 thermoluminescent dosemeters were placed in 24 sites in a RANDO® head phantom. Protocols with lowest exposition parameters and protocols with highest exposition parameters were performed for each of the ten devices. The ED was calculated from the measured energy doses according to the International Commission on Radiological Protection 2007 recommendations for each protocol and device, and the statistical values were evaluated afterwards.Results:The calculation of the ED resulted in values between 17.2 µSv and 396 µSv for the ten devices. The mean...