Prevalence of Positioning Errors of Digital Panoramic in Patients Referred to Oral and Maxillofacial Radiography Department of Shahid Sadoughi Dentistry School of Yazd

Panoramic is the most widely used radiographs for the oral and dental diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the common errors of digital panoramic radiographs in patients who referred to School of Dentistry (Yazd, Iran). This study was a cross-sectional descriptive one. Four-hundred radiographs available in the department archive were utilized. They aged from 10 – 70 years. The common positioning errors were divided into 13groups and the study data were analyzed via SPSS (Version 17). The frequencies of errors were as followed: there were only 47(11/7%) error free radiographs and its prevalence involved forward position (8.7%) of patient, back position of patient(9%), head twisted (6/2%), head tilted (3/7%), chin tipped too low (11%). chin raised too high (27/7%), slumped position (14/5%), chin not on chin rest (0%), tongue not on plate (21/5%). Moreover, bite guide was not used (5%), Prostheses was not removed (1/2%), and metallic accessories were not separated (4%). Most errors were related to “Chin raised too high”. The lowest error was associated with “Chin not on chin rest”. It seems that the best strategy for having radiographs with fewer errors is appropriate and accurate positioning of the patient.