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Current Radiation Safety Practices Of United States Dental Hygienists, Kimberly Lintag

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Problem: The purpose of this study was to determine licensed dental hygienists’ current radiation safety practices.

Methods: Data was collected with a 22 item, IRB exempt online survey administered to a sample of 1,500 U.S. dental hygienists who were subscribers of a professional journal. Questions focused on respondents’ use of ADA selection criteria guidelines, policies implemented by their dental practice, and hand-held portable x-ray device use and training. A response rate of 38% (N=566) was obtained. Cross tabulations were obtained using logistic regression and general linear models for significance at a 0.05 level.

Results: A majority of respondents had an …