Occupational radiation exposure for various medical radiation workers, especially the dental radiation workers, in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020

Abstract

Background/purposeThe development of dental radiology in Taiwan has been over a century. This study explored mainly the profile of dental radiation workers and their occupational radiation exposure in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020. Materials and methodsThis study used the secondary data analysis to survey mainly the changes of manpower of the dental radiation workers and their occupational radiation exposure in Taiwan from 2013 to 2020. ResultsThe number of monitored dental radiation workers increased from 678 in 2013 to 770 in 2020. However, the proportion of monitored dental radiation workers to the total monitored medical radiation workers decreased from 4.29% in 2013 to 3.67% in 2020. Although the number of monitored dental radiation workers increased, the number of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers decreased from 2013 to 2020. The annual collective exposure dose fluctuated from 5.21 man-Sv to 15.47 man-Sv, but it showed a decreasing trend. Furthermore, the mean annual effective exposure dose of total monitored dental radiation workers (0.01–0.02 mSv) and that of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers (0.15–1.11 mSv) were relatively low among various medical radiation workers. In overall, the proportion of medical radiation technologists to dentists varied from 0.41 to 0.45. ConclusionAlthough the number of monitored dental radiation workers increase, the number of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers, the proportion of the measurably exposed dental radiation workers to the total monitored dental radiation workers, and the annual collective exposure dose for monitored dental radiation workers decrease from 2013 to 2020.