Clinical Governance in Action
Robert J Emanuel, Nusrat Hussa
Abstract
The audit aimed to investigate improvement in the clinical and processing quality of periapical and bitewing radiographs taken within the service,when compared to the original audit. One-hundred and sixty-three radiographs taken during June 2004were obtained from 11 clinics and 17 dentists. Each clinician returned a questionnaire. Three authors reviewed the radiographs, using set guidelines produced by Faculty of General Dental Practitioners (FGDP). Of the 163 radiographs taken, 120 (74%) scored 1, 33 (20%) scored 2 and 10 (6%) scored 3. Substantial improvement in quality of radiographs was observed with 94% of the films meeting the FGDP criteria as against 71% in the original audit. The improvement in quality may be due to dentists being more aware of quality issues