Radiation doses during panoramic zonography, linear tomography and plain film radiography of maxillo-facial skeleton. A comparative study.

The radiation doses to the organs and the skin of the head and neck during plain film radiography, a-p and p-a linear tomography and panoramic zonography of the maxillo-facial skeleton were measured on a sliced anatomic Alderson skull phantom with LiF (TLD-100) thermoluminescence chips. The doses were clearly highest during the linear tomography. Also the doses during the plain film radiography were quite high. Compared to the conventional methods the doses from the panoramic Zonography were minimal.