Radiographic examination of patient's initial care in a Brazilian Dental School

INTRODUCTION: For X-rays offer more benefits than risks, they need to be performed or ordered according to each clinical situation.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the radiographic exams requested in the initial care in a dental school, considering signs/symptoms and the reported reasons for seeking care.MATERIAL AND METHOD: We evaluated the medical records of 3100 adult patients treated over a period of three years, and eliminated those who had not performed radiographic examinations in the initial care. In a final sample of 1567 records, was collected: age and gender, reason for seeking care, presence of signs and/or symptoms, beyond technique and the number of radiographs requested. The dates were analysed by descriptive statistics.RESULT: 5034 radiographs were made, mean of 3.24 (±2.97) per patient. Among the techniques, the most widely used was the periapical, followed by panoramic. Tooth extraction and pain were the most prevalent reasons for seeking care, while pain, periodontal disease and the presence of soft tissue pathologies were the signs/symptoms more common. 35.41% of the sample had no signs or symptoms.CONCLUSION: There is a wide variation in the request of radiographs for initial care showing a lack of application of criteria in the selection diagnostic imaging, which can lead to unnecessary exposure to radiation X.