A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PREVIOUSLY GRADUATED DENTISTS' KNOWLEDGE VERSUS THOSE RECENTLY GRADUATED AS TO PROPER PRESCRIPTION OF INTERAORAL RADIOGRAPHY AND PANORAMIC VIEWS

Statement of Problems: The first step to decrease the patients' exposure to unnecessary radiography radiation is the proper prescription of radiography. . Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of general dental practitioners as to proper prescription of intraoral radiography and panoramic views. Materials and Method: In this study, a questionnaire on the dentists' knowledge about the proper prescription of dental radiography was used. A total of eighty one general dental practitioners filled in the questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the dentists' awareness and its relationship with graduate round off period was done carried out by Chi-square, Mann Whitney and Fishers exact tests using SPSS software. Results: The Knowledge of general dental practitioners as to panoramic radiography was moderate and that of those who graduated more than five years ago (Group 1) was 42.8%. The knowledge of the recently graduated general dental practitioners graduated less than 5 years ago (Group 2) was 50%. As to preference of application of panoramic radiography and intraoral periapical radiography in diagnosis of oral and dental diseases, group 1 gave 100% correct answers compared to 83.3% in group 2. Conclusion: The dentists' knowledge regarding the proper prescription of radiography did not have a significant difference. Adequate instruction for dentists in this regard seems to be necessary. Key words: Dentists knowledge, I ntraoral radiography, P anoramic radiography, Prescribing