Hand-held dental X-ray equipment: guidance on safe use
This report (PHE-CRCE-023) gives guidance on safe use of hand-held dental X-ray equipment in accordance with UK radiation protection legislation.
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This content was originally produced by Public Health England (PHE). This content is now owned and managed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Public Health England’s Dental X-ray Protection Services have noted a steady increase in both the numbers of hand-held X-ray sets used in UK general dental practice for routine intra-oral radiography and the number of models of hand-held X-ray sets available to dentists.
Investigations indicate that it is clinically practicable to use hand-held dental X-ray equipment for most of the radiographic examinations commonly undertaken with wall-mounted X-ray equipment, albeit with some adjustments to procedural aspects of radiography such as patient positioning.
Safeguards for people who might be exposed as a result of the equipment being used in locations remote from the dental practice, such as care homes, should be considered.
This publication proposes a safety standard for the design and construction of dental X-ray equipment that is intended to be used hand-held and provides guidance to assist all people involved with hand-held dental X-ray equipment to work with it safely and in accordance with UK radiation protection legislation.