Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for patients undergoing intraoral and panoramic dental examinations at the intraoral radiology units of the public hospitals in Najran, Saudi Arabia. DRLs were determined based on measurements of dose area product (DAP) at intraoral and dental panoramic radiology units. This study has covered over 47% of the public hospitals in Najran with the intention to establish the local DRLs for all the possible intraoral and panoramic X-ray examinations for children and adults. For intraoral, the values for the estimated DAP ranged from 6 to 70 mGy.cm(2) (average: 27.6, 29.8, 39.9 and 39.6 mGy.cm(2) for incisive, both premolar and canine, molar upper and lower jaw, respectively). For panoramic, the mean value of DAP is 61.5 and 89.8 mGy.cm(2) for paediatric and adult patients, respectively. DRLs were established at the 3rd quartile for incisive, both premolar and canine, molar upper and lower jaw protocols are 29.2, 37.1, 50.2 and 50.1 mGy.cm(2), respectively. Furthermore, DRLs for panoramic radiography for paediatric and adult patients are 72.7 and 92.3 mGy.cm(2), respectively. The proposed DRLs were comparable to those previously reported in other countries, such as UK and India.