Tomograms: can techs do it by themselves???-unsupervised?

[Axel Ruprecht]

Madhu

My comments will mirror those of Sharon and Don, as well as Curtis.

Here in Iowa I have an RTR who does most of our tomography, which is
predominantly TMJ, and one of my DAs who is trained (by me) to do this. I
checked with the Iowa Board of Dental Examiners who basically agreed that
if I were responsible for their actions, it was okay with them. It was a
new and unusual request for them, and they trusted my explanation.  I said
that they were doing what I would do (therefore it is part of dentistry),
and one radiograph is like any other. If you are qualified, you are
qualified, much like DAs who make skull radiographs for orthodontics.

My staff make them "independently" (at arm's length supervision) and only
upon presription by a Dentist.

In Iowa, the RTRs have their own section of the Iowa Code that allows them
to make radiographs.

Dental Assistants must have the Iowa Certificate of Proficiency in Dental
Radiography to be permitted to make radiographic exposures. This is issued
by the Iowa Board of Dental Examiners to qualified DAs.

Hope that this helps.

Rgds
Axel




>Can anyone fill me in on the following, please?
>
>This question pertains to acquisition of tomograms.
>Could you throw some light on the practices at different schools with
>respect to getting the rad. techs to do tomograms all by themselves or do
>you know if it is mandated by state law to have the techs directly
>supervised by attending  Faculty?
>Also, do you let dental assistants who help staff Radiology help out too?
>Could you please let me know? I am not familiar with the state/federal law
>on this. Perhaps some of you are.
>Thank you.
>Best regards,
>Madhu Nair
>University of Pittsburgh
>Pennsylvania
>
>___________________________________________________


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  * Axel Ruprecht D.D.S., M.Sc.D., F.R.C.D.(C)  *
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