Introduction and purposeUse of radiological equipment in dentistry is vital for the diagnosis and treatment of oral and dental diseases. However, concerns about the leakage of radiation from these ...devices and its impact on public health are inevitable. The present study aimed to investigate the extent of radiation leakage in dental clinics in the city of Kashan, Iran, and its results can significantly contribute to the improvement of the safety of these environments. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 30 randomly selected dental clinics. Data collection was performed using the Smart Ion Mini_Instruments Ltd (UK) for measuring radiation leakage, along with observations and inquiries to obtain demographic and protective information. The collected data were entered into the SPSS 24 and analyzed using statistical tests. Results: Based on the findings, 6 out of the 30 sampled clinics had radiation leakage values higher than the permissible limit, while 24 clinics were within the safe range. Moreover, in assessing the relationship between variables and radiation leakage, no significant correlation was found between radiation leakage and the demographic information of radiologists, such as gender, specialty, and work experience. Among protective measures, the presence of lead shielding showed the highest significant correlation with radiation leakage. Conclusion: The study showed that 20% of the sampled offices had a high radiation leakage rate and that protective measures, especially the use of lead shields, were very important in reducing the radiation leakage rate in dental offices. The results indicated that the offices that used lead shields had less radiation leakage than other offices. Lack of a significant relationship between the demographic information of radiographers and the amount of radiation leakage indicated that this phenomenon is more related to technical factors and radiation equipment rather than personal factors, such as gender or expertise. These results revealed the necessity of emphasizing education and retraining and the implementation of safety standards and guidelines related to the use of radiology equipment in dental environments, as well as the necessity of periodic visits to dental offices.
The purpose of this article is to presage the upcoming challenges in the area of radiation protection of patients in imaging for different stakeholders, such as dosimetrists, radiation biologists, ...patients, referring physicians, radiologists, radiographers, medical physicists, and manufacturers.
Most of the challenges facing different stakeholders are actually based on the contribution required from industry; thus, manufacturers play the greatest role in making patients safer in this century.
In recent times, glass materials appear to be strong candidates for radiation protection applications. In this study, a zinc-bismuth-barium-sodium-silicate (ZBBSS) glass system with a formulation of ...10ZnO – 20Bi2O3– 5BaO – 15Na2O – (50-x) SiO2– xPbO, x: 0, 5, 15 and 25 wt% was synthesized. The traditional melting technique (1325–1375 °C) enabled the synthesis of four different glass samples coded ZBBSS1 to ZBBSS4. Following synthesis, Archimedes' principle, XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis, and DSC techniques showed physical, structural, optical, and thermal property alterations as a function of PbO inclusion, while the triple methodology (experimental, theoretical, and simulation) revealed radiation attenuation aspects in a broader sense. According to the findings, ZBBSS1 had density of 3.1107 g/cm3 while the other samples had density values of 3.2285, 3.6053, and 4.0158 g/cm3 in respective order. The clear existence of non-crystalline structure for the ZBBSS glass series was reported. Similar vibrational modes were found for ZBBSS glass systems, and -OH, Si-OH, Si-O-Si, and Pb-O-Pb bonding types were assigned to peak formations. For determination of thermal properties, it was observed that Tg became lower, from 520.6 to 392.4 °C, in parallel to the increment in the PbO doping rate. Additionally, an increase in the PbO doping rate hindered the transmission phenomenon based on UV-Vis spectra. Gamma absorption coefficients were measured at six energies with four sources using the gamma spectroscopic system. The measured values were compared with the FLUKA code and Phy-X software. Experimental LAC values of 0.2463, 0.2729, 0.3064, and 0.3618 cm−1 were measured using a Cs-137 source for the ZBBSS glass series, respectively. The variation in the values obtained with the triple methodology overlapped with each other for all energies. Among the prepared glasses, the best LAC and MAC, thinnest HVL, lowest MFP and TF were determined for ZBBSS4 glass sample with maximum PbO content. From the results obtained, it is concluded that the addition of PbO is a useful way to improve the gamma attenuation capacity, and among the glasses examined, ZBBSS4 had superior protection against gamma rays.
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