Radiation safety awareness in dental radiology among oral health students: a pretest-posttest study of a structured educational intervention.

backgroundDental radiographic imaging is widely used in oral health care, and safe practice requires adequate awareness of radiation protection, dose optimization, and patient-specific exposure principles. This study evaluated radiation safety awareness in dental radiology among oral health students and assessed the short-term effect of a structured educational intervention.

methodsThis single-group pretest-posttest study was conducted among associate degree students enrolled in an Oral and Dental Health program in Türkiye during the 2025-2026 academic year. A 90-minute structured training session addressed broad radiation protection content, including ionizing radiation, radiation quantities and units, biological effects, personal monitoring, ALARA-based practice, shielding, collimation, thyroid protection, pregnancy-related radiographic issues, receptor selection, and exposure optimization in dental imaging. Knowledge was assessed immediately before and after the intervention using 15 repeated scored items focused on selected dental radiology safety topics rather than every educational objective of the training session. The questionnaire was developed de novo for this study and was interpreted as a study-specific instrument. Paired analyses were performed among students with complete matched pretest and posttest records. Total scores were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and item-level changes were evaluated using exploratory unadjusted McNemar tests.

resultsNinety-three students participated, and 69 students had complete matched pretest and posttest records. Mean total knowledge scores increased from 3.06 ± 3.00 before training to 6.78 ± 3.83 after training, while median scores increased from 3.0 to 7.0. The improvement was statistically significant (p = 6.36 × 10 - 9), with a large effect size (r = 0.70). However, the absolute posttest score remained modest relative to the 15-point maximum. Internal consistency was good at both pretest and posttest. Secondary exploratory, unadjusted item-level improvements were most evident in clinically relevant dental radiology safety topics, including pregnancy-related radiographic issues, equipment positioning, rectangular collimation, paralleling technique, thyroid protection, receptor or film selection, digital radiography, patient holding of radiographic film, recognition of X-ray use, biological effects of radiation, and adjustment of exposure parameters for adult and pediatric patients.

conclusionsA brief structured educational intervention was associated with significant immediate improvement in dental radiology radiation safety awareness among oral health students. However, the modest absolute posttest score and the single-group immediate posttest design indicate that the findings should be interpreted as short-term educational gains rather than evidence of sustained competence or behavioral change. The findings support early and repeated integration of focused radiation protection training into oral health curricula, particularly for topics directly related to patient protection, operator safety, and dose optimization.