Image Quality and Radiation Dose for Intraoral Radiography: Hand-Held (Nomad), Battery Powered vs. Wall-Mount X-Ray Systems

A hand-held, battery-powered dental intraoral x-ray system (60 kV, constant potential output) was compared to a conventional, wall-mounted intraoral x-ray system (70 kVp, self-rectified output) in terms of image quality, and patient and staff radiation doses. The image quality comparison included quantitative measurements of image sharpness (resolution) and contrast. Patient doses were compared using the FDA dental phantom and adjusting the radiation dose to obtain the same density on intraoral dental films. Staff radiation doses were measured using personal dosimetry badges for dental facilities before and after introduction of the hand-held x-ray system allowing accurate comparison of staff doses with both systems under similar workloads and operating conditions. Results for both image quality, and dose to patients and staff are provided.