Assessment Radiation Protection Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Dental Radiography Staff

Statement of the Problem: As the increasing usage of radiography in dentistry, it is important to consider different aspects of radiation protection status in dental clinics including knowledge, practice and attitude of staff seems to be necessary.
This study aimed to assess radiation protection KAP (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice) in dental radiography staff.
A questionnaire based survey was performed in different types of clinics (educational, public and private) in 5 geographical regions of Iran (capital, center, north, west and east) on 336 participants in 2015-16. The multiple choice questionnaire consisted of 68 questions with a coverage of the demographic, knowledge, attitude and practice of staff regarding radiation protection. The collected data were analyzed by the One-Way ANOVA test using SPSS statistical software.
Our findings showed that there was no relation between KAP and sex (P=0.48) and KAP and work experience (P=0.61) of participants. A statistically significant difference was found between time duration after graduation and KAP (P=0.00). In addition, there was a significant difference between size of the clinic and KAP (P=0.04), but there was not any relation between type of clinic and KAP (P=0.80). There was a significant relation between region and KAP (P=0.00).
The result of present study showed that the level of radiation protection KAP is associated with time duration after graduation of participant, size of the clinic and geographical region. Besides, the fact of being no relation between type of clinic and KAP highlights the fact that in dental clinics, the absence of a radiation protection officer or a radiation training expert for training purposes causes a similar outcome regarding radiation protection status in educational and non-educational clinics.