Data important when estimating effective dose were insufficiently reported in most studies. A model with minimum data based on this observation is proposed. Few studies related effective dose to image quality.

For a dedicated CBCT unit, changing the rotation angle from 360° to 180° degrades image quality. By altering tube potential and current for the 360° rotation protocol, assessment of periodontal structures can be performed with a smaller dose without substantially affecting visualization.

Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility of GafChromic ® XR-QA2 (ISP Corp., Wayne, NJ) as a dosemeter when performing measurements of the effective dose from three cone beam CT (CBCT) units and to compare the doses from examinations of three common dental clinical situations. A second aim was to compare the radiation doses for three digital panoramic units with the doses for the CBCT units. Methods: The CBCT units used were Veraviewepocs 3De ® (J Morita MFG Corp., Kyoto, Japan), ProMax ® 3D (Planmeca, Helsinki, Finland) and NewTom VGi ® (Quantitative Radiology, Verona, Italy). GafChromic XR-QA2 films were placed between the selected layers of the head and neck of a tissue-equivalent human skull (RANDO ® phantom; The Phantom Laboratory, Salem, NY). The exposure parameters were set using the automatic exposure control function of the units. Depending on the availability, medium and smaller field of view (FOV) scanning modes were used. The effective dose was estimated using the 2007 International Commission on Radiological Protection formalism. Results: The lowest effective dose of a CBCT unit was observed for ProMax 3D, FOV 4 3 5 cm (10 mSv), the highest for NewTom VGi, FOV 8 3 8 cm-high resolution (129 mSv). The range of effective doses for digital panoramic machines measured was 8-14 mSv. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using radiochromic films for dental CBCT and panoramic dosimetry.

Objectives:To evaluate measurability and reliability of measurements of root length and marginal bone level in CBCT, periapical (PA) and bitewing (BW) radiographs. Methods: CBCT of both jaws, PA of maxillary incisors and posterior BW radiographs of 10 adolescents (mean age 13.4) were selected. The radiographs comprised part of the baseline examinations of a trial of orthodontic treatment. Six raters assessed measurability and measured root length and marginal bone level. Three raters repeated their assessments. Measurability was expressed as frequency of interpretable sites and reliability as intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Measurability was 100 % in CBCT and 95 % in PA of maxillary incisors for root length measurements. For marginal bone level, measurability was 100 % in CBCT, 76 % in PA and 86 % in posterior BW. Mean ICC for interrater reliability for root length measurements in CBCT was 0.88 (range 0.27-0.96 among different teeth) and 0.69 in PA of maxillary incisors. For marginal bone level measurements, mean ICC was 0.4 in CBCT, 0.38 in PA of maxillary incisors and 0.4 in posterior BW. Intrarater reliability varied among methods, root length or marginal bone level and among raters, except for root length measurements in CBCT, which presented high reliability (above 0.8) for all raters. conclusions: As measurability and reliability were high for root length measurements in CBCT, this may be the method of choice for scientific analyses in orthodontics. For clinical praxis, we recommend PA following the "as low as diagnostically acceptable" principle, as clinical decisions seem to be influenced only when severe root resorption occurs.