The characteristics of dental X-ray fluoroscopic equipment 'DreamRay 60F'

Calculation of patient effective dose and scattered dose for dental mobile fluoroscopic equipment: application of the Monte Carlo simulation

The objective of this study was to evaluate the patient effective dose and scattered dose from recently developed dental mobile equipment in Korea. The MCNPX 2.6 (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA) was used in a Monte Carlo simulation to calculate both the effective and scattered doses. The MCNPX code was constructed identically as in the general use of equipment and the effective dose and scattered dose were calculated using the KTMAN-2 digital phantom. The effective dose was calculated as 906 μSv. The equivalent doses per organ were calculated via the MCNPX code, and were 32 174 and 19 μSv in the salivary gland and oesophagus, respectively. The scattered dose of 22.5-32.6 μSv of the tube side at 25 cm from the centre in anterior and posterior planes was measured as 1.4-3 times higher than the detector side of 10.5-16.0 μSv.

The clinical application of the dental mini C-arm for the removal of broken instruments in soft and hard tissue in the oral and maxillofacial area

Many kinds of broken instruments, such as needles, probes, scalpels and catheters, are reported to be left in patients after surgery. These parts should be removed as soon as possible to prevent further complications. However, it is not easy to identify the exact location of the instrument intraoperatively, and a risk of damage exists for neighbouring nerves or vessels during the removal. The C-arm used in orthopaedic surgery, is seen as a useful and safe way to detect metal materials intraoperatively. However, its application for removal of broken instruments in the oral and maxillofacial area is not practical because of its large size. In our experiences with the removal of eight broken instruments in the oral and maxillofacial area, the newly developed dental mini C-arm was useful in finding broken instruments in soft tissue (five cases) and in paranasal sinus (one case), because it gives real time in situ information. This is important, because the position of the broken instrument can be changed due to traction of the soft tissue or swelling. The dental mini C-arm was less helpful in finding broken instruments in soft tissues compared to hard tissues (two cases) as the position of instruments did not change.