Radiographic recommendations for the primary dentition: comparison of general dentists and pediatric dentists.

Carole M Hanes, D. R. Myers, J. C. Dushku, W. O. Thompson, L. C. Durham

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

A survey which included brief case histories and intraoral photos of four primary dentitions ranging from healthy to severely carious was mailed to a random sample of 2000 general dentists and 1000 pediatric dentists. Radiographic options were listed, from which the dentist was to indicate all films needed for each child's examination. Surveys were received from 1273 (43%) dentists, including 713 (36%) general dentists and 560 (56%) pediatric dentists. The pediatric dentists recommended significantly more diagnostic radiographs than did the general dentists across all four primary dentition cases. This trend was apparent in the absence of clinically visible caries. When radiographs were recommended, bite-wing radiographs were the most frequently ordered films. The most frequently ordered combination among all respondents was bite-wing radiographs plus anterior periapical films. The results suggest that, frequently, neither general dentists nor pediatric dentists prescribe radiographs for the primary dentition patient that conform to the USDHHS guidelines for radiographic examination (1987).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)212-216
Number of pages5
JournalPediatric dentistry
Volume12
Issue number4
StatePublished - Jul 1 1990

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Dentistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Radiographic recommendations for the primary dentition: comparison of general dentists and pediatric dentists.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this