Awareness on dental radiographic examination and associated health risks among patients visiting a dental clinic in Tanzania.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use Dental radiographs has become an integral part of modern clinical dentistry to investigate complaints of patients. This study aimed at determining the level of awareness of dental radiological examination among patients attending dental treatment at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) dental clinic in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which included patients who underwent radiological examination. A specially designed questionnaire was used to gather information on the demographics and level of awareness of the patients regarding X-ray examination. The data obtained was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science-V23. The association between variables was assessed by the Chi-square test, and p-value was set at p<0.05. A total of 322 participants were included in the study of which 184 (57.1%) were females. The age range of the participants was 18 to 89 years (mean of 37.2 ± 15.2 years). There was a statistically significant association between self-perceived awareness about dental radiographs and level of education, age and previous experience of the participants. Only 39.4% reported to have had some information regarding dental X-rays and among them, in 89%, the source was dental personnel. Only 36% said there was no problem in exposing a pregnant woman to dental X-rays. 92.7% said there is a need of using special protective gear when exposing a pregnant woman to dental X-ray. Generally, there was a low awareness of dental X-ray examination in this group of patients. Keywords: Awareness, dental X-ray examination, Muhimbili, Tanzania.