Occupational radiation exposure for various medical radiation workers, especially the dental radiation workers, in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020

Feng-Chou Cheng; Ming-Chung Lee; Mu-Hsiung Chen; Chien-Yi Ting; Chun-Ping Su; Shiang-Yao Liu; Chun-Pin Chiang

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2022.06.011

Occupational radiation exposure for various medical radiation workers, especially the dental radiation workers, in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020

J Dent Sci. 2022 Oct;17(4):1544-1552. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2022.06.011. Epub 2022 Jun 28.

Authors

Feng-Chou Cheng^{1

2}, Ming-Chung Lee¹, Mu-Hsiung Chen³, Chien-Yi Ting^{4

5}, Chun-Ping Su⁶, Shiang-Yao Liu^{1

7}, Chun-Pin Chiang^{3

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Science Education Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medical Science and Technology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁵ Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Graduate Institute of Science Education, College of Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background/purpose: The development of dental radiology in Taiwan has been over a century. This study explored mainly the profile of dental radiation workers and their occupational radiation exposure in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020.

Materials and methods: This study used the secondary data analysis to survey mainly the changes of manpower of the dental radiation workers and their occupational radiation exposure in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020.

Results: The number of monitored dental radiation workers increased from 678 in 2013 to 770 in 2020. However, the proportion of monitored dental radiation workers to the total monitored medical radiation workers decreased from 4.29% in 2013 to 3.67% in 2020. Although the number of monitored dental radiation workers increased, the number of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers decreased from 2013 to 2020. The annual collective exposure dose fluctuated from 5.21 man-Sv to 15.47 man-Sv, but it showed a decreasing trend. Furthermore, the mean annual effective exposure dose of total monitored dental radiation workers (0.01-0.02 mSv) and that of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers (0.15-1.11 mSv) were relatively low among various medical radiation workers. In overall, the proportion of medical radiation technologists to dentists varied from 0.41 to 0.45.

Conclusion: Although the number of monitored dental radiation workers increase, the number of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers, the proportion of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers to the total monitored dental radiation workers, and the annual collective exposure dose for monitored dental radiation workers decrease from 2013 to 2020.

Keywords: Annual collective exposure dose; Dental radiation technologists; Dental radiation workers; Measurably exposed dental radiation workers; Occupational radiation exposure.