Exam 1 (1-4) Flashcards
Dental radiographs:
Images or pictures produced by x-rays
Remain the basis for many diagnostic procedures
Play an essential role in oral health care
What is Radiography?
Making of radiographs by exposing an image receptor,
either film or digital sensor
Dental radiography
The purpose is to provide oral health care team radiographs of the best possible diagnostic quality.
The goal is to obtain the highest quality radiographs while maintaining the lowest possible radiation exposure risk for the patient.
Oral radiology:
Study of x-rays and techniques used to produce radiographic images
X-Ray discovered by Professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen 1895
X-ray:
Initially, X represented the unknown.
Radiograph:
Photo negative and x-ray film are similar.
X-rays resemble radio waves.
Prefix “radio” and suffix “graph” combined.
Panoramic radiography
Capable of exposing the entire dentition and surrounding structures on a single image
Computed tomography scan (CT)
Imaging a single selected plane of tissues
Delivers high dosage of radiation
Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)
Lower doses of radiation
* Purported to become the gold standard
Early dental x-ray film packets
Glass photographic plates wrapped in black paper and rubber
Machine-wrapped dental x-ray film packet
First available in 1919 from Kodak
Emulsion coating:
One-sided coating
Required long exposure times
Both sides coated now
Exposure times much shorter
Who introduced digital radiography and what does it do?
Digital imaging systems replace film as the image receptor with a sensor.
French dentist- Frances Mouyen, 1987
RadioVisioGraphy
What are the advantages of digital radiography?
Advantages:
Reduction in radiation dosage
Elimination in film and processing chemistry
Elimination of film packaging disposal
Bisecting technique:
First and earliest method
A. Cieszyński, 1907
Applied the rule of isometry to dental radiology
Paralleling technique:
Franklin McCormack, 1920
Less-complicated; more practical
Uses of Dental Radiographs:
Detect, confirm, and classify oral diseases and lesions
Detect and evaluate trauma
Evaluate growth and development
Detect missing and supernumerary (extra) teeth
Document the oral condition of a patient
Educate patients about their oral health
Matter:
Anything that occupies space and has mass.
Energy:
The ability to do work and overcome resistance
Examples:
Heat
Light
Electricity
X-radiation
Atom:
The smallest particle of an element that still retains the properties of the element
Molecule:
The smallest particle of a substance that retains the properties of that substance
Atoms + Atoms = molecule
Atoms are composed of:
Electrons (-)
Negative charge
Protons (+)
Positive charge
Neutrons (neutral)
No charge
Atoms:
Electrons revolve around a nucleus in paths called shells or energy levels.
Protons and neutrons form the nucleus (center)
In the neutral atom, the number of positively charged protons in the nucleus is equal to the number of negatively charged orbiting electrons. The innermost orbit or energy level is the K shell, the next is the L shell, and so on.
Binding energy:
Electrons are maintained in orbits by positive attraction of protons.
Ion:
is an atom with extra (+) or missing (-) electrons
Charged particle
Positive ion:
Atom from which an electron (-) has been removed
(more protons than electrons)
Negative ion:
Negatively charged electron (-) separated from the atom
(-e itself)
Ion pair:
Positively charged atom ion and negatively charged electron ion
Ionization:
Formation of ion pairs
What’s going on in this picture?
Ionization is the formation of ion pairs. When an atom is struck by an x-ray, an electron may be dislodged and an ion pair results.
Radiation:
Emission and movement of energy through space
Electromagnetic radiation (x and gamma rays)
Particulate radiation (alpha and beta particles)
Ionizing radiation:
Any radiation that produces ions
Radioactivity:
The process whereby certain unstable elements undergo spontaneous disintegration (decay) in an effort to attain a stable nuclear state.
Dental x-rays do not involve the use of radioactivity.
Electromagnetic Radiation:
Movement of wave-like energy through space as a combination of electric and magnetic fields.
Electromagnetic spectrum:
Consists of an orderly arrangement of all known radiant energies.
X-radiation includes:
Gamma rays
Ultraviolet rays
Visible light
Infrared
Microwave
Radio waves
All energies of the electromagnetic spectrum share the following properties:
Travel at the speed of light
Have no electrical charge
Have no mass or weight
Pass through space as particles and in a wave-like motion
Give off an electrical field at right angles to their path of travel and a magnetic field at right angles to the electric field
Have energies that are measurable and different
Electromagnetic radiation display two contradictory properties:
Believed to move through space as both a particle and a wave.
Particle or quantum theory:
Assumes electromagnetic radiations are particles, or quanta called photons
Photons are bundles of energy that travel through space at the speed of light
Wave theory:
Assumes electromagnetic radiation is propagated (spread) in the form of waves:
Wavelength
Frequency
Velocity
Wavelength:
Distance between two similar points on two successive waves
May be measured in the metric system or in angstrom (Å) units
Wavelength is determined by distances between crests.
Frequency:
The measure of the number of waves that pass a given point per unit of time
Hertz (Hz)
Special unit of frequency
One hertz equals one cycle per second.
Velocity:
Speed of the wave
Soft radiation:
Grenz rays
Limited penetrating power
Unsuitable for exposing dental radiographs
(long wavelength)
Hard radiation:
Wavelengths used in diagnostic dental radiography range from about
0.1 to 0.5 Å
Great penetrating power
(Short wavelengths)
Properties of X-rays
X-rays are believed to consist of minute bundles (or quanta) of pure electromagnetic energy called photons.
Photons:
Photons have no mass or weight, are invisible, and cannot be sensed.
X-ray photons are often referred to as “bullets of energy.”
X-rays:
Are invisible
Travel in straight lines
Travel at speed of light
Have no mass or weight
Have no charge
X-ray photons have the ability to penetrate
materials or tissues depends on:
The wavelength of the x-ray
and
thickness and density of the object.
Materials that are extremely dense and have a high atomic weight will absorb more x-rays than thin materials with low atomic numbers.
Dense materials such as bones appear radiopaque (white/light gray) (bones/teeth = white/gray)
Less dense materials such as the pulp chamber appear radiolucent (black/dark gray) (spaces/foramen = black)
In a dental x-ray tube, the kinetic energy of electrons is converted to electromagnetic energy by the formation of:
General or bremsstrahlung radiation
German for “braking”
Characteristic radiation
General/bremsstrahlung radiation:
Produced when high-speed electrons are stopped or slowed down by the tungsten atoms of the dental x-ray tube.
Characteristic radiation:
(C)
Produced when a high-speed electron from the tube filament collides with an orbiting K-shell electron of the tungsten target.
Primary radiation:
General and/or characteristic radiation generated at a target inside x-ray tube head
Refers to the useful beam, or those x-rays generated for the
purpose of making a radiographic image
Secondary radiation:
Formed as a result of primary radiation striking and interacting with matter
Not as penetrating as primary radiation
Not useful in the production of a radiographic image
Can contribute to a lowered contrast, poor quality image
Scatter radiation:
Form of secondary radiation
Results when x-rays are deflected in all directions as a result of interaction with matter
Not useful
Can cause unnecessary additional exposure to patient tissues and to the careless operator who does not follow safety protocols
Lead apron + lead wall = no scatter radiation
Absorption:
Process of transferring energy of x-rays to atoms of material through which the x-ray beam passes
The beam of x-rays passing through matter is
weakened and gradually disappears.
(tooth absorbs energy = turns white)
Interaction of X-rays with Matter:
Four possibilities:
- No interaction
- Coherent scattering
- Photoelectric effect
- Compton effect
No interaction:
(A)
X-ray photon can pass through an atom unchanged and no interaction occurs.
In dental radiography, about 9% of the x-rays pass through the patient’s tissues without interaction.
Coherent scattering:
(B)
Incoming x-ray photon interacts with the electron by causing the electron to vibrate at the same frequency as the incoming x-ray photon.
Accounts for about 8% of the interactions of matter with the dental x-ray beam
Photoelectric effect:
Incoming x-ray photon collides with an orbital electron and imparts electromagnetic energy to the electron in the form of kinetic energy causing electron to fly from its orbit, creating an ion pair.
All-or-nothing energy loss
High-speed electron (called a photoelectron)
knocks other electrons from the orbits of other atoms (forming secondary ion pairs) until all its energy is used up.
Accounts for about 30% of the interactions of matter with the dental x-ray beam
Compton scattering:
Similar to the photoelectric effect
Incoming x-ray photon collides with an orbital electron and ejects it. But, only a part of the x-ray energy is transferred to the electron, and a new, weaker x-ray photon is formed and scattered in a new direction.
Accounts for about 60% of the interactions of matter with the dental x-ray beam.
The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements
(ICRU)
has established standards that clearly define radiation units and radiation quantities. The most widely accepted terms used for radiation units of measurement come from the Système Internationale (SI), a modern version of the metric system.
The SI units are:
Coulombs per kilogram (C/kg)
Gray (Gy)
Sievert (Sv)
Radiation Measurement Terminology:
Quantity SI Unit
Exposure coulombs per kilogram (C/kg)
Absorbed dose gray (Gy)
Dose equivalent Sievert (Sv)
Effective dose equivalent microsievert (µSv)
Exposure:
Measurement of ionization in air produced by x- or gamma rays
Unit for measuring exposure is coulombs per kilogram (C/kg)
Does not measure the radiation absorbed by body tissues or other materials.
Exposure does not become a dose until the radiation is absorbed.
Absorbed dose:
Amount of energy deposited in any form of matter, such as the tissues of the head and neck of a patient, by any type of radiation (alpha or beta particles, x- or gamma rays)
Unit for measuring absorbed dose is the gray (Gy)
Dose equivalent:
Used to compare the biological effects of the various types of radiations
Product of the absorbed dose times a biological-effect qualifying or weighting factor determined by quantum physicists
Unit for measuring dose equivalent is the sievert (Sv)
weighing factor for X-ray = 1
absorbed dose and dose equivalent are equal
Effective dose equivalent:
Used to compare the risk of radiation exposure producing a biological response
Expressed using the term microsievert (μSv)
Compensates for the differences in area exposed and tissues, critical or less critical, that may be in the path of the x-ray beam