AWARENESS, ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR OF SAUDI DENTAL STUDENTS TOWARDS RADIATION SAFETY AND PROTECTION

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that dental students and dentists have poor knowledge, attitude and behavior towards radiation protection and safety. Materials and methods: An electronic questionnaire was distributed among dental students at the College of Dentistry at "King Saud" University using the online service. Results and discussion: Overall, 151 students were included in the study: 45 in the 2nd year, 46 in the 3rd year, 48 in the 4th year, and 12 in the 5th year. The average correct response score overall was 65.3%, with correct responses ranging from 17.8% to 93.8%. Conclusions: The results of this study suggests that dental schools should give special attention to radiation safety and protection, an information to be necessarily introduced in the early years of dental education and continually reinforced in all dental courses that involve ionizing radiation.