Resumo

QUEIROGA, Myrian Alves dos Santos et al. Evaluation of radiographic errors performed by dental students in intraoral radiographic techniques. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2010, vol.46, n.2, pp. 61-65. ISSN 1516-0939.

Radiographic examinations are frequently used as diagnostic aids in the clinic examination of patients undergoing dental treatment in dental clinics of undergraduate courses. The quality of the radiographic image is crucial in reaching an appropriate interpretation, supplying complementary information that is necessary for the diagnosis and the proper treatment planning. The aim of this study was evaluate and compare the frequency of intraoral radiographic errors, occurring while executing periapical and bitewing radiographs, performed by students according to semester of study. After calibration, two researchers evaluated 915 intraoral radiographs, 709 periapical films, and 206 bitewing films found in 275 dental records of patients who had undergone dental treatment in the dental clinics referent to the 4th to 8th semesters of the course. The errors evaluated were: distortion (stretching and shortening) of radiographic image; cone cutting; high and low density; yellow spot on the image; incorrect positioning of the film, revealing the lead plate; the presence of grooves and removable devices. The presence of at least one of these errors was enough to consider the image to be inappropriate. The dates were tabulated, and the qui-square test, Fisher's exact test (p<0.05), and Bonferroni's correction were used for analysis. Considering the realm of radiographs, an 82.51% frequency of errors could be observed. A statistically significant difference could be observed in the frequency of radiographic errors between many techniques disposable (p<0.05). It could be concluded that a high rate of radiographic errors is committed, understanding that such mistakes tend to decrease in the later semesters of the course.

Palavras-chave : Dental radiography; Quality control; Health services evaluation.