[Oradlist] National Registry for Pediatric Imaging

[Allan G Farman]

Certainly dose minimization to as low as achievable without undermining
diagnosis should always be a goal; however, whether OMR should work with
medical imaging for this purpose is not so clear cut. Relatively
speaking our use of multislice CT is low whereas our use of intraoral
radiology, panoramics, cephalometrics and CBCT is greater. Do we really
want to have the population associate our low radiation methods with the
much higher dosages often employed by other disciplines in healthcare? I
am just asking the question... not offering a definite answer.
 
Perhaps the best route is to work in  parallel with our medical
colleagues and come up with a separate report that is not just lost in
the small print of the larger program. AAOMR and AAO are already in
process of developing a position paper on imaging for orthodontics.
Certainly, this registry can be cited. OMR represents a small portion of
all uses of radiation in dentistry, especially to children where
pediatric dentists, orthodontists and family dental practitioners will
take most images. The effort to have these groups get involved in a
registry given the red tape and bureaucracy of daily practice would be
great, and might result in little return. Further, few systems in 
dentistry provide reliable assessments of administered dose at this
time.
 
Unfortunately, I am becoming a little jaded due to the at least daily
new opportunities that arise that compete for limited resources. OMR is
a small discipline and needs to carefully assess which activities can be
achieved and have value. We already have to be represented like all
specialties of dentistry in an inordinate number of specifically
dentally related matters. It is through the ADA, FDI , etc. that we
would need to direct our attention to be effective in getting dentists
to participate in such a registry. That involved stamina to persist
through all the political hurdles to get the matter to be noticed and
its importance recognized. 
 
AGF
 
 
 
 
 
Allan G. Farman, BDS, PhD, MBA, DSc, Diplomate ABOMR

Prof. Radiology & Imaging Science
Univ. Louisville School of Dentistry: SUHD
501 South Preston Street,
Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA 

Tel: +1(502) 852.1241
Fax: +1(502)852.1626


>>> Dania Tamimi <daniatamimi at hotmail.com> 08/04/2010 11:14 AM >>>
For your consideration.
 
We should be involved in this:
 
http://www.rsna.org/Publications/RSNAnews/August-2010/dose_registry_feature.cfm
 
Dania

Silent, well-behaved women seldom make history.



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