Studying Hard For The Radiography Exams!

In August last year myself, Kirsten and Jay all enlisted on a Radiography course with the BDA (British Dental Association). This will be beneficial for both ourselves and the practice as it means that we are able to take x-rays of patients under a dentist’s prescription. Both Cathy and Mandy already have their radiography qualifications.

This saves the dentists time and in turn means that patients get the optimum amount of time with the dentist.

Now as you may have guessed taking an x-ray isn’t all that easy, there are lots of factors to consider before and during x-ray taking. There is also a lot of science behind radiographs and the effects they may have on the body.

When I first set about taking x-rays after watching the dentists take them for a couple of years I thought, that’s easy… Our course consists of both a practical and written assessment both of which I am finding challenging.

The course is done mainly online which you would think makes things easier however I am quite a practical learner, I like to see things being done in order to understand them better. We started out by having a series of 27 modules produced on a virtual slide show, each module averaged at about 45-60slides with each slide being approximately 2mins long. After a while this becomes a little tedious. There is so much information to take in on each slide it’s nearly impossible to remember yesterday’s slide after watching a new one today.

Once we had completed all 27modules we then had to take a mock exam before being allowed to begin the practical assignment. We were then given our practical work in September. This involved taking 40 x-rays of different kinds and getting our supervising dentist to grade the x-ray on quality and also the communication between us and the patient. I found this much easier as we were being shown by the dentist, I had a few teething problems to start especially with certain types of x-rays but after I had taken a few it became routine. Our portfolios as they were called had to be complete and sent back to the BDA by the end of Feb.

Periapical X-ray – these show a close up image of the full root of the tooth. These are often taken if a patient has tooth ache to check for infection around the tooth.

Bitewing X-ray – this is used as a close up screen to check for caries (decay) in-between teeth and also check bone levels around the teeth are healthy. This is the most routine x-ray taken in dentistry.

Finally we have the daunting EXAM coming up on the 28^th March this year. We are all on revision mad, and at the moment nothing seems to be sinking in which is a little worrying as we only have 2 weeks left! However I will remain optimistic and I’m sure when the time comes all of the information that we have learned will come running to our aid!

Finger crossed everything will go well and we will be qualified in taking dental radiographs in the next month

Thanks for reading, Lo x

**I have requested permission verbally from all patients’ to display these x-ray’s publicly**