• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.215-224
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to investigate the related factors of performance of radiation safety management in dental hygienists. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 183 dental hygienists using dental radiography in 110 dental clinics in G area by convenience sampling methods. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects, radiation-related characteristics, and performance and management of radiation safety. Results: Performance score of radiation safety management was $35.71{\pm}12.49$ in dental hygienists. The performance score of radiation safety management were associated with sex, numbers of dental hygienists, the average numbers of admitted patients per day, the total clinical experience, existence of manual for radiation safety management and perceived need for education of radiation safety management. Conclusions: The performance score was relatively low. The performance score was associated with radiation safety manual and safety equipment. The preparation of radiation protective environment and equipment will improve the performance of radiation safety management in dental hygienists.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.469-476
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• 2019

The purpose of this study examines the education, knowledge and behavior of radiation safety management among dental workers and compares the education, knowledge and behavior between dental hygienist group and other occupational groups. This study was conducted from November 2nd to November14th, 2019. The survey was conducted on dental workers(dental hygienists, nursing, assistants, coordinators, etc.) who worked in dental hospitals and clinics in Busan area. The tool of this study was modified and adapted to the clinical setting based on the questionnaire. Radiation safety education has 39 dental hygienists who had more education than non-dental hygienists (p=0.286). The most common types of radiation safety education were self-education which usually performed by dentistry, followed by conservative education and others. The average of radiation attitudes, knowledge and behaviors was higher in the dental hygienist group then in the non-dental hygienist group. On the item-specific behavior among employees, the question of 'the radiation should be shielded according to the menstrual cycle or pregnancy of the woman of childbearing' was significant (p<0.05). On the item-specific knowledge between occupations, the question of 'the intensity of X-rays decreases over distance' and 'the individual exposure can be measured by TLD badge or film badge' was significant (p<0.05). Taken together, these results indicate that the dental hygienist group is more concerned about radiation safety and that the dental hygienist group is receiving more radiation safety management training. However, if there is a low level of 'has experienced' in the presence or absence of safety management education, it is difficult to train radiation safety management in dentistry. Therefore, it is considered that dentists should be trained in radiation safety management periodically to pay attention to radiation safety accidents.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1053-1065
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate radiation safety education, knowledge and practice of dental hygienists in using handheld portable intraoral X-ray equipment and to suggest the need for radiation safety education in using handheld portable intraoral X-ray equipment. Methods: We surveyed 223 dental hygienists from July, 2017 to August in the dental clinics of Daejeon, Seoul and Gyeonggi area. Results: Radiation safety educational experience was higher in a year's career (72.9%), than 3 years experience (32.5%) (p<0.05). 82.7% of dental clinic workers took university education for radiation safety education while 55.6% of dental hospital workers took company training (p<0.05). More than 70% of the subjects did not have experience of radiation safety education about using portable intraoral X-ray. Radiation safety knowledge was highest in a year's career (p<0.05). The cumulative dose, radiation sensitivity, and lead defense knowledge were high in all subjects, but knowledge related to scattering radiation and scattering radiation sources was low. Practice of portable intraoral X-ray safety was significantly lower than knowledge. Conclusions: Knowledge of portable intraoral radiography safety is available, but performance is poor. Even with the small amount of radiation exposure, the risk is perceivable. There is a need to actively utilize the provided radiation protection products. In order to do this, efforts should be made to improve knowledge and performance of radiation safety through not only college education but also postemployment training.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.527-537
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the awareness towards dental radiation exposure and concern in the adults. Methods : A self-reported questionnaires was filled out by 470 adults over 19 years old in Seoul from May 16 to July 10, 2013. Results : Fear for dental radiography showed that those who positively thought of radiography had 2.86 folds necessity of radiography than those who did not. Positive responders worried about the hazards of dental radiation 4.64 folds than the negative responders. More worried responders had felt the radiation hazards 1.83 folds than those who worried less. The worried responders also had higher awareness of dental radiation hazards. Conclusions : Frequent use of dental radiography is able to be prevented by protective devices. So it is important to prevent the possible hazards of the dental radiography by personal protective education.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.101-109
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude towards radiation protection after radiation safety management education in dental hygiene students. Methods: After receiving informed consents, a self-reported questionnaire was carried out for 135 dental hygiene students in Busan on June 17 for preliminary survey and September 3 for post-education survey, 2011. The questionnaire was modified from Han and consisted of 5 questions of general characteristics, 6 questions of radiation use, 7 questions of scholastic characteristics, 15 questions of knowledge towards radiation safety management, and 15 questions of attitude towards radiation safety management. Cronbach's alpha was 0.808 in the knowledge towards radiation safety management. Attitude towards radiation safety management included 15 questions of general attitude towards radiation safety management, individual and patient, and attitude toward radiation exposure reduction measured by Likert 5 scale. Cronbach's alpha was 0.970 in the attitude towards radiation safety management. Data were analyzed using SAS version 9.2 for educational analysis, technical analysis and multivariate analysis, paired t-test, and GLM. Results: Significant differences were shown in the knowledge and attitudes towards radiation safety management; the level of knowledge was respectively $9.8{\pm}3.0$ and $12.9{\pm}1.9$ points before and after education, and the level of attitude was $4.28{\pm}0.51$ and $4.53{\pm}0.47$ before and after the education. The levels of knowledge and attitude according to general characteristics showed a significant differences in grade and academic results. Post-education survey suggested that the education is very important and necessary and can change the knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management in the dental hygiene students. Conclusions: Through the radiation safety management education, the levels of knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management have changed significantly, which showed that the radiation safety management education proved to be very effective. Therefore, an effective radiation safety management education program is necessary to improve the levels of knowledge and attitude towards radiation safety management in the dental hygiene students.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.251-263
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• 2019

Objectives: To establish foundations for reinforcing radiation safety management in dental facilities. Methods: This study investigated the status of radiation safety management among radiation workers in dental facilities nationwide for a period of six months from July to December in 2018 and analyzed the factors that affect their compliance with radiation safety measures. Results: Compliance with safety measures was higher in the Honam region (p<0.01) and Yeongnam region (p<0.01), in university hospitals and general hospitals (p<0.05), along with an increasing perception of the importance of safety management (p<0.001). Conclusions: It is important to strengthen education about radiation safety management, develop a radiation safety guideline that could be reasonably applied to dental institutions, and implement relevant regulations or legal grounds to promote compliance with these measures.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.849-857
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• 2014

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the knowledge and attitude toward radiation safety management in dental clinic worker. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 294 dental clinic workers in dental hospitals and clinics in Gwangju and Jeonnam from February 17 to March 30, 2014. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of radiation safety(8 questions), knowledge of radiation safety(15 questions), and attitudes of radiation safety(16 questions). The survey was done by Likert 5 scale method. Results: In completion of the radiodontia courses, 84.0% of the learners were female workers. 88.0% of the learners took the theoretical and practical courses. Those who work in the university dental hospital accounted for 87.1% and those in dental clinics accounted for 83.2%. Majority of the workers took on Leaden protective clothing in order to protect the thyroid gland. Male workers had more knowledge toward the radiation safety management than the female workers. The attitude toward the radiation safety management revealed the significant differences between age, gender, academic careers, license, clinical careers and the mean number of patients per day(p<0.05). Conclusions: The radiation safety management is very important in dental clinical workers and it is necessary to enhance the attitude toward the radiation safety through continuous education.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.673-680
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the awareness and performance towards the dental radiation protection behaviors in dental institutions in Busan and Gyeongnam. Methods : Two hundred and one dental medical institutions in Busan and Gyeongnam participated in the survey from March 10 to April 4, 2014. The data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0 for ${\chi}^2$ test, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. Results : There were significant differences in the awareness and performance towards the radiation protection behaviors according to age, monthly income, and type of hospital(p<0.05). Protective equipment influenced on the awareness and performance of dental staff and patients(p<0.001). The important variables on dental radiation protection included protection facility and education of protective equipment. It is found the variable to affect the performance of dental radiation protection was protection facility, wearing of protective device staff and patients, education on RSM. Conclusions : These results can provide the basic data for the effective dental radiation safety management and improvement for the dental institutions.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.117-126
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• 2007

Although the diagnostic information provided by radiographs may be of definite benefit to the patients, the radiographic examination does carry the potential for harm from exposure to ionizing radiation. Therefore we should try to expose radiation as low as reasonably achievable and to give diagnostic information to patients as much as possible. All of dentists should have competence in radiation protection. I wish to deal with what we should do for the optimization of radiation protection in dental clinic.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2014

Recently the patient exposure by medical and dental x-ray examination has grown rapidly and diagnostic radiology represents the largest source of man-made radiation. For the patient protection, the principle of justification and optimization should be followed. All the radiographic examinations have to show a potential benefit to the patient weighing against the potential risk. After they are justified, the radiographic exposure should be kept as low as reasonably achievable, taking into account economic and social factors. For the safe use of radiation in dentistry, the radiation safety management in accordance with the legislation is important. The present status and the future of radiation safety management in dental radiology in Korea and other country will be discussed.