Evaluation of radiographic errors made by undergraduate dental students in periapical radiography.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the types of errors and the anatomical distribution of these errors made by undergraduate dental students during periapical radiography. Seventeen hundred randomly selected periapical radiographs were included in the study. The erroneous radiographs were classified according to the error types and anatomical locations. According to evaluations, 1,089 radiographs (64.06 %) were acceptable, and 611 radiographs (35.94 %) were unacceptable. A statistically significant difference was found (p < 0.05) for the frequency of error types according to anatomical locations. The most frequent error was incorrect angulation. And the most frequent anatomical location was the maxillary molar area. Determination of the distribution of anatomical region and error types may help to eliminate these errors and radiographic retakes.