Radiographic examination of children. A survey of prescribing practices of general dentists.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this article was to assess the radiographic prescribing practices of a sample of general practitioners for the pediatric dental patients in relation to current guidelines.

STUDY DESIGN

Questionnaires were mailed to a sample of 963 dentists. The adjusted response was 80%.

RESULTS

For the new patient under age 6, slightly more than two thirds of respondents reported the use of selective radiography. For ages 6 to 14 years, a slight majority chose a protocol of survey radiography. Of those who used a predetermined protocol, 69% chose "bite-wings only" for the child under 6 years, whereas for the child 6 to 14 years, the protocol of choice was a complete radiographic survey, predominantly the panoramic/bite-wing. For recall patients in both age groups, less than 1% of dentists used survey radiography.

CONCLUSION

From our results, we concluded that the majority of dentists followed the guideline for children under 6 years. However, for children in the transitional dentition years, our respondents choices were divided between selective or survey radiography. The ambiguity in the wording or interpretation of the guideline for this age group may have contributed to this result.