Quality Assurance and Fault Analysis of Radiographs Flashcards
what does ALARP stand for
as low as reasonably practicable
what should every dental practice have relating to radiographs
quality assurance programme
who is involved in the creation of quality assurance programmes
medical physics expert
what are things to check on the digital image receptors
the receptor itself and damage
image uniformity
image quality
how often should digital receptors be checked
at least every three months
what does checking the receptor image uniformity involve
expose receptor to an unattenuated xray beam and check if resulting image is uniform - ie check a consistent shade of grey across the image
what does checking the image quality of a receptor involve
take a radiograph of a test object and assess the resulting image against a baseline
what will appear if a phosphor plate is scratched
white lines
what happens if a phosphor plate is cracked
network of white lines
what happens if delamination occurs on phosphor plates
white areas around the edge
how does damage appear on film
appears as black marks due to sensitisation of radiographic emulsion
what does white scratches on film indicate
the layer of emulsion has been scraped off
what is used to test quality assurance of receptor image quality
step wedge
what is the step wedge technique
used to check image contrast, use different thickness of lead on a stick to make sure they all have different contrasts
what are the 3 parts of assessing clinical image quality
image quality rating
image quality analysis
reject analysis
what is image quality rating
grading each image
what is image quality analysis
reviewing images to calculate success rate
what is reject analysis
recording and analysing each unacceptable image
what is used to determine whether an image is acceptable or not
you need to know what the image is supposed to show
what 3 things are needed for bitewing radiographs to be considered acceptable
show entire crowns of upper and lower teeth
include distal aspect of canine and mesial aspect of last standing tooth
every approximal surface shown at least once without overlap where possible
what three things are needed for a periapical radiograph to be diagnostically acceptable
shows entire root
shows periapical bone
shows crown
what is fault analysis
identifying and explaining faults so that they can be remedied
what is cone cutting
collimation error - incorrect assembly of x-ray holder
what might be the problem if the contrast is wrong on your radiograph (too dark/ light)
you need to choose the correct exposure on the control panel
