Evaluation of dental students’ performance in taking periapical radiographs using the bisectrix technique at Faculdade de Odontologia of the Universidade do Norte do Paraná (Unopar)

Abstract

Analysis and classification of the quality of radiographic examinations performed by third- year graduation students from the dental college at Unopar. The professors of Radiology exami- ned a number of 1000 radiogra- phs during one year. The same professors classified them as: excellent (9.9%); good (40.85%); regular (40.75%) and unsatisfac- tory (8.5%). This way, 90.1% of the radiographic examinations presented some kind of technical or processing errors. The errors found, due to incorrect processing, had a great expression (46.6%). Incorrect vertical angle (21%) and inadequate framing (19.5%) were also considered high. The authors verified that, overtime, there was a gradual increase in the number of excellent radiographs, meaning the students’ improvement with practice. Key words: dentistry, X-rays, dental students, dental radiogra- ph.