Knowledge, attitude, practice about radiation safety of dental students

AIM or PURPOSE The purpose of this questionnaire was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice among dental students about radiation safety in a dental school. MATERIALS and METHOD The third, fourth and fifth-grade students at the Altınbaş University Faculty of Dentistry were participated in the study. A questionnaire consisting of 9 multiple-choice, 15 true/false questions related to basic knowledge of radiation safety, and 7 true/false questions regarding practice and attitude was administered. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-squared test and Fisher Freeman Halton exact test. P values < 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. RESULTS 164 students participated in the questionnaire and 32.9% of the participants were third-grade, 36% of them were fourth-grade, and 31.1% of them were fifth-grade students. 93.3% of the students answered ‘‘yes’’ to the principle of staying at least 3 meters away from the patient and using a lead apron during X-ray examination. The correct response rate to the question ‘‘What is the ALARA principle?’’ was significantly higher among 3rd-grade students (98.1%) compared to 4th-grade (88.1%) and 5th-grade students (86.3%) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION(S) It has been observed that students have sufficient knowledge about attitudes and practical applications regarding radiation safety and protection.