Overview of dental radiation technologists in Taiwan

Feng-Chou Cheng; Mu-Hsiung Chen; Po-Hsiang Hsu; Cheng-Hsueh Chen; Ming-Chih Kuo; Po-Fang Tsai; Chun-Pin Chiang

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2022.08.010

Overview of dental radiation technologists in Taiwan

J Dent Sci. 2022 Oct;17(4):1669-1676. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2022.08.010. Epub 2022 Aug 31.

Authors

Feng-Chou Cheng^{1

2}, Mu-Hsiung Chen³, Po-Hsiang Hsu⁴, Cheng-Hsueh Chen⁵, Ming-Chih Kuo⁶, Po-Fang Tsai⁷, 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, Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, Hualien, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Medical of Imaging, National Taiwan University Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Taipei Medical 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: In Taiwan, there is no independent licensing system for dental radiation technologists. A licensed medical radiation technologist who engages in dental radiology is the so-called dental radiation technologist. This study explored mainly the profile of dental radiation technologists in Taiwan.

Materials and methods: This study used the methods of documentary analysis, dental radiation manpower survey, and the secondary data analysis to find the profile of dental radiation technologists in Taiwan.

Results: There were currently 59 dental radiology departments and 101 dental radiation technologists (29 males and 72 females) in 57 hospitals and their branches. Of the 101 dental radiation technologists, 56 worked in the medical centers, 28 in the regional hospitals, and 17 in the district hospitals. More than half of the dental radiation technologists were concentrated in the medical centers (55.45%, 56/101) or the northern region of Taiwan (57.43%, 58/101), especially in the northern medical centers (30.69%, 31/101).

Conclusion: In Taiwan, the manpower of dental radiation technologists is insufficient, and dental radiation technologists usually work in the dental departments of the hospitals. A large number of clinic dentists lack dental radiation technologists to assist in dental radiology works and the clinic dentists have to perform the dental radiology works by themselves. Therefore, a dental radiology education system should be established to design innovative dental radiology courses for radiological technology students. This in turn can provide a new practice direction for medical radiation technologists and expand their potential participation in the field of dental radiology.

Keywords: Dental radiation technologists; Dental radiology; Dentists; Medical radiation technologists.