Abstract
Background/purpose
In Taiwan, the dental radiology has a history of more than 100 years. However, medical radiation schools or teaching hospitals have not yet established a set of standard learning content for dental radiology internship.
Materials and methods
We used the observational method and dental radiology teaching survey to explore the connotation of clinical dental radiology education for medical radiation students in Taiwan.
Results
There were 64 dental departments of hospitals with their own independent dental radiology departments in Taiwan in 2022. Among them, 58 (90.63%) were in the teaching hospitals. Of the 58 dental radiology departments in the teaching hospitals, 40 (68.97%) had medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments. There was a complete set of seven training items for dental radiology internship. The mean training items in the medical centers (4.94) was significantly higher than that in the regional hospital (3.9) (P < 0.05). No matter what level of hospital, it is the most common way to implement the training mode with preclinical exercises and then clinical practice.
Conclusion
In Taiwan, the current status of dental radiology teachers in the teaching hospital is indeed seriously insufficient. It is necessary to establish a standard dental radiology education system, including setting one common dental radiology subject for medical radiation students, and the relevant regulations to formulate the basic requirements of the training items and training hours for dental radiology internship. Thus, medical radiation interns can acquire the operation skills related to dental X-ray machines after completing the internship training.
Keywords: Medical radiation students, Dental radiology education, Dental radiology internship, Medical radiation interns
Introduction
The article “the value of X-ray in the diagnosis of dental diseases (with photobook)” was published in the Journal of the Formosan Medical Association by the Taiwan Government Taipei Hospital in 1913.1 To the best of our knowledge, this may be the earliest academic publication on the application of dental X-ray images for diagnosis of dental diseases in Taiwan. In addition, the article “the dental X-ray photography technology” was published in the Journal of the Taiwan Radiology Association by the Radiology Department of Taiwan Government Tainan Hospital in 1932.2 This may be the earliest academic publication on dental X-ray photography technology in Taiwan. Thus, the dental radiology in Taiwan has a history of more than 100 years.
In fact, even though dental radiology has a long history in Taiwan, it has not yet developed a standardized dental radiology education system. Dental radiology is a common field of dentistry and medical radiology.3 In the current Taiwan medical personnel education system, undergraduate dental students usually only take a 2-credit dental radiology course which is mainly a lecture course for dental diagnosis, and a 2-credit dental radiology clinical internship for more hands-on course in dental X-ray photography.4 For undergraduate medical radiation students, some medical radiation schools do not provide independent dental radiology course, resulting in many medical radiation students almost completely lacking the concept and knowledge of dental radiology. Fortunately, Taiwan's national license examination for medical radiation technologists stipulates that medical radiation graduates must have a minimum standard of 12 weeks (480 h) of practice weeks (hours) for radiological diagnostic internship. Although dental radiography is just one of the 11 items in this course, it at least provides all medical radiation students with the opportunity to learn dental radiology.5 Regarding the course content of dental radiography in radiological diagnostic internship, relevant teaching institutions such as medical radiation schools or teaching hospitals have not yet established a set of standard learning content for dental radiology.
Therefore, this study explored the actual implementation method and content of the dental radiography practice course for medical radiation students in various teaching hospitals in Taiwan. The results will help to establish the course standard for dental radiology in the future.
Materials and methods
This study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, we used the observational method. In the workplace of the dental radiology department of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), we observed the teaching activities of the senior medical radiation technologists instructing medical radiation students for dental radiography techniques in a natural situation. Based on the observation records, we summarized the specific teaching items of dental radiography techniques. In the second stage, we used dental radiology teaching survey designed according to the results of the first stage. Although there is no national list of teaching hospitals with dental radiology departments, we conducted this survey through the interpersonal network of the dental radiology department of NTUH which informally organized a group for dental radiation technologists in Taiwan. We analyzed two questions relevant to our study: the first question was about whether to offer the curriculum of dental radiology internship to medical radiation students in your dental radiology department; and the second question was about specific training items of dental radiology internship in your dental radiology department.
This study explored the actual training items of the dental radiography practice for medical radiation students among teaching hospitals in Taiwan. The research data were stored in excel files and used for the descriptive statistics. The distribution of dental radiology training items was analyzed by independent t-test and chi-square test for trend analysis. The result was considered to be significant if the P-value was less than 0.05.
Results
The content of training items for dental radiology internship
According to the observation of the first stage of this study, the dental radiology internship course for medical radiation students in the dental radiology department of NTUH could be classified into the following four major specific training items.
Basic exercises
Interns including medical radiation students and dental students were arranged in groups of two to perform the basic exercises on periapical radiography. They practiced with each other on the placement of intraoral periapical films and the placement and adjustment of the horizontal/vertical angle of irradiator (cone) of the dental X-ray machine. They were guided and demonstrated the correct placement of periapical films by the senior medical radiation technologists. The exercises included the placement with indicator (paralleling technique by indicator) and the placement without indicator (bisecting-angle technique by finger-supporting film). These two techniques were taught for placement of both periapical and bite-wing films.
Exercises before real practice
-
(A)
Exercise for full-mouth periapical radiograph mounting
After explaining the anatomical structure of the upper and lower jaws, a few digital images of the periapical radiography were called out from the computer for the interns to perform flipping the radiographs to the correct direction with the mouse button and then mount the radiographs to the film set module. The purpose of this exercise was to train the interns to finally discharge the full-mouth series of periapical radiographs correctly according to the anatomical position.
(B)Assembly exercise for indicator device of paralleling technique
The images taken by the paralleling technique are more accurate (less foreshortening or elongation) and more reproducible. However, if the indicator device was assembled incorrectly, it might cause cone cutting or none of images captured. Therefore, the purpose of this exercise was to train the interns how to assemble the indicator for taking the images of anterior and posterior teeth. The instructor randomly assigned different tooth positions to ask the interns to assemble the indicator device correctly.
-
(C)
Exercise for holder (Snap-A-Ray), bite block or finger-supporting film of bisecting-angle technique
Interns were arranged in groups of two to practice with each other on the placement of intraoral periapical films and the placement and adjustment of horizontal/vertical angle of irradiator (cone) of dental X-ray machine. They were guided and demonstrated the correct placement without indicator (bisecting-angle technique by holder, bite block or finger-supporting film) by the senior medical radiation technologists. When the paralleling technique by indicator cannot be used due to the patient's sensitivity to cause gag reflex, root canal with files inserted, horizontal impaction, and children's difficulty in cooperating, the bisecting-angle technique by finger-supporting film was used for periapical radiography.
Real practices
Under the supervision of the senior medical radiation technologists, interns actually operated the following dental radiography for patients according to the instructions of dentists.
-
(D)
Practice for the partial dental radiography
For the periapical or bite-wing radiography of local areas, the intraoral areas were divided into upper/lower jaws, anterior/premolar/molar regions, or individual teeth. Interns usually needed to use 1–2 periapical films to complete the periapical or bite-wing radiography of a certain region.
-
(E)
Practice for the full-mouth periapical radiography
For the full-mouth periapical radiography, interns usually needed to use 12–14 periapical films to complete at least one case of full-mouth periapical radiography.
-
(F)
Practice for the panoramic radiography
Interns practiced patient reference line positioning (including Frankfort plane, midsagittal plane, and focal trough/image layer) and machine parameter setting, and then actually operated the panoramic radiography.
-
(G)
Practice for the cephalometric radiography
Interns practiced patient reference line positioning (Frankfort plane), patient central occlusion (CO) placing and machine parameter setting, and then actually operated the cephalometric radiography.
Advanced dental radiography practices
According to the situation of the workplace, interns were provided with other types of special dental radiography practices, such as cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT), hand plate, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and skull/maxillofacial radiographies.
The distribution of qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments in Taiwan in 2022
According to the survey of the second stage of this study, there were a total of 64 dental departments of hospitals (including their branches) with their own independent dental radiology departments in Taiwan in 2022 (Table 1). Of these 64 hospitals, there were 21 medical centers, 28 regional hospitals, and 15 district hospitals. Among them, there were 58 (90.63%) qualified teaching hospitals, including 21 (100%) medical centers, 28 (100%) regional hospitals, and 9 (60%) district hospitals. Of these 58 teaching hospitals, there were 40 (68.97%) qualified teaching hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments, including 18 (85.71%) medical centers, 20 (71.43%) regional hospitals, and 2 (22.22%) district hospitals (Table 1).
Table 1.
The numbers of hospitals (including their branches) with dental radiology departments, qualified teaching hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments in the three different levels of hospitals, and the numbers of full-time medical radiation technologists in the three different levels of hospitals in Taiwan in 2022.
| Hospital level | Hospitals with dental radiology departments |
Teaching hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments (C) | Ratio |
Chi-square testc |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-teaching hospital | Teaching hospital (B) | Total (A) | B/A | C/B | P-value | ||
| Number of Hospitals | P = 0.166 | ||||||
| Medical center | 0 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 100% | 85.71% | |
| Regional hospital | 0 | 28 | 28 | 20 | 100% | 71.43% | |
| District hospital | 6b | 9 | 15 | 2 | 60% | 22.22% | |
| Overall | 6 | 58 | 64 | 40 | 90.63% | 68.97% | |
| Number of medical radiation technologistsa | P < 0.0001 | ||||||
| Medical center | 0 | 56 | 56 | 49 | 100% | 87.5% | |
| Regional hospital | 0 | 31 | 31 | 23 | 100% | 74.19% | |
| District hospital | 7b | 12 | 19 | 2 | 63.16% | 16.67% | |
| Overall | 7 | 99 | 106 | 74 | 93.40% | 74.75% | |
The numbers were the number of full-time medical radiation technologists of dental radiology departments in the hospitals.
Among them, there was one dental hospital with one full-time medical radiation technologist.
Chi-square test was used to evaluate the relation among the items A, B and C.
Among 40 teaching hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments, 19 (47.5%) were concentrated in the northern region, including 9 (22.5%) medical centers, 8 (20%) regional hospitals, and 2 (5%) district hospitals (Table 2). This finding indicates that among hospitals with dental radiation departments, hospitals with higher level, such as medical centers, have a higher proportion being teaching hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiation departments. In addition, these hospitals were unevenly distributed, and they were mainly medical centers in the northern region of Taiwan (Table 2).
Table 2.
The numbers (proportions) of the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments, and the numbers (proportions) of their full-time medical radiation technologists working for dental radiology in the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals according to the hospital location in Taiwan in 2022.
| Hospital level | Hospital location (region of Taiwan) |
Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern | Central | Southern | Eastern | ||
| Hospitals | |||||
| Medical center | 9 (22.5%) | 4 (10%) | 5 (12.5%) | 0 | 18 (45%) |
| Regional hospital | 8 (20%) | 5 (12.5%) | 6 (15%) | 1 (2.5%) | 20 (50%) |
| District hospitala | 2 (5%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (5%) |
| Overall | 19 (47.5%) | 9 (22.5%) | 11 (27.5%) | 1 (2.5%) | 40 (100%) |
| Medical radiation technologists | |||||
| Medical center | 25 (33.78%) | 13 (17.57%) | 11 (14.86%) | 0 | 49 (66.22%) |
| Regional hospital | 12 (16.22%) | 7 (9.46%) | 4 (5.41%) | 0 | 23 (31.08%) |
| District hospitala | 2 (2.70%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (2.70%) |
| Overall | 39 (52.70%) | 20 (27.03%) | 15 (20.27%) | 0 | 74 (100%) |
These 2 district hospitals belonged to a branch of a medical center and a branch of a regional hospital, respectively.
Furthermore, there were a total of 106 full-time medical radiation technologists (excluding part-timers) in dental radiology departments in Taiwan in 2022 (Table 1). Of these 106 medical radiation technologists, 56 worked in the medical centers, 31 in the regional hospitals, and 19 in the district hospitals (Table 1). Moreover, 99 (93.40%) of 106 medical radiation technologists worked in the teaching hospitals. Of these 99 medical radiation technologists, 56 (100%) worked in the medical centers, 31 (100%) in the regional hospitals, and 12 (63.16%) in the district hospitals (Table 1). Furthermore, 74 (74.75%) of 99 medical radiation technologists worked in the hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments. Of these 74 medical radiation technologists, 49 (87.5%) worked in the medical centers, 23 (74.19%) in the regional hospitals, and 2 (16.67%) in the district hospitals (Table 1).
For the hospital location, 39 (52.70%) of the 74 medical radiation technologists, worked in the hospitals (including 25 medical centers, 12 regional hospitals, and 2 district hospitals) in the northern region of Taiwan (Table 2). This finding indicates that among teaching hospitals and those with medical radiation interns in their dental radiation departments, hospitals with higher level, such as medical centers, had a higher number of medical radiation technologists in their dental radiology departments (P < 0.0001). In addition, these medical radiation technologists were unevenly distributed, and they mainly worked in teaching hospitals, especially the medical centers, in the northern region of Taiwan.
The distribution of qualified teaching hospitals’ training item and training mode for dental radiology internship
For three exercises before real practice (training item A: exercise for full-mouth periapical radiograph mounting; training item B: assembly exercise for indicator device of paralleling technique; training item C: exercise for holder, bite block or finger-supporting film of bisecting-angle technique), of 40 qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments, 34 (85%) offered the training item A, 29 (72.5%) offered the training item B, and 21 (52.5%) offered the training item C (Table 3).
Table 3.
The numbers (proportions) of the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) with dental radiology departments which offered a certain training item in Taiwan in 2022.
| Hospital level | Numbers and proportions of a certain training item offered by the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals |
Number of hospitals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item A | Item B | Item C | Item D | Item E | Item F | Item G | ||
| Medical center | 15 (83.33%) | 15 (83.33%) | 9 (50%) | 15 (83.33%) | 5 (27.78%) | 18 (100%) | 12 (66.67%) | 18 |
| Regional hospital | 17 (85%) | 13 (65%) | 10 (50%) | 12 (60%) | 2 (10%) | 18 (90%) | 6 (30%) | 20 |
| District hospital | 2 (100%) | 1 (50%) | 2 (100%) | 1 (50%) | 1 (50%) | 2 (100%) | 1 (50%) | 2 |
| Overall | 34 (85%) | 29 (72.5%) | 21 (52.5%) | 28 (70%) | 8 (20%) | 38 (95%) | 19 (47.5%) | 40 |
Item A: Exercise for full-mouth periapical radiograph mounting.
Item B: Assembly exercise for indicator device of paralleling technique.
Item C: Exercise for holder (Snap-A-Ray), bite block or finger-supporting film of bisecting-angle technique.
Item D: Practice for the partial dental radiography.
Item E: Practice for the full-mouth periapical radiography.
Item F: Practice for the panoramic radiography.
Item G: Practice for the cephalometric radiography.
For four real practices (training item D: practice for the partial dental radiography; training item E: practice for the full-mouth periapical radiography; training item F: practice for the panoramic radiography; and training item G: practice for the cephalometric radiography), of 40 qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches), when following in a descending order, 38 (95%) offered the training item F, 28 (70%) offered the training item D, 19 (47.5%) offered the training item G, and 8 (20%) offered the training item E (Table 3).
The medical centers and regional hospitals had nearly the same ability to offer the dental radiology training (including items A to G) for the medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments. It should be noted that the two district hospitals belonged to a branch of a medical center and a branch of a regional hospital, respectively. In addition, 35 (87.5%) of the 40 qualified teaching hospitals offered at least three training items, and 9 (22.5%) of the 40 qualified teaching hospitals could offer five training items (Table 4). The mean training items for the 40 qualified teaching hospitals was 4.43 in overall. The mean training items in the medical centers (4.94) were significantly higher than that in the regional hospital (3.9) (P < 0.05). This finding indicates that among hospitals with medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments, hospitals with higher level, such as medical centers, provided more training items to their medical radiation interns (Table 4).
Table 4.
The numbers of training items for dental radiology internship offered by the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) with dental radiology departments in Taiwan in 2022.
| Hospital level | Numbers of training items offered by the three different levels of qualified teaching hospitals |
Mean training itemsc | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 item | 2 items | 3 items | 4 items | 5 items | 6 items | 7 items | ||
| Medical center | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4.94 |
| Regional hospital | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3.9 |
| District hospital | 0 | 0 | 1a | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1b | 5 |
| Overall | 3 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4.43 |
This district hospital belonged to a branch of a regional hospital.
This district hospital belonged to a branch of a medical center.
Analysis by independent t-test showed that the mean training items of the medical centers were greater than that of the regional hospitals with P < 0.05.
For the three different training modes, of the 40 qualified teaching hospitals, 34 (85%) could provide the type 3 training mode (training items including exercises and real practice), 4 (10%) could provide the type 2 training mode (training items only for real practice without exercises), and 2 (5%) could provide the type 1 training mode (training items only for exercises without real practice) (Table 5). This finding suggests that for medical centers, regional hospitals, and district hospitals, it was the most common way to implement the training mode with preclinical exercises and then clinical practice (Table 5).
Table 5.
The numbers (proportions) of qualified teaching hospitals (including their branches) which offered three different types of training modes for dental radiology internship according to the hospital level in Taiwan in 2022.
| Hospital level |
Numbers of qualified teaching hospitals which offered the three different types of training modes |
Chi-square test |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Type 2 | Type 3 | P-value | |
| Medical center | 0 (0%) | 2 (5%) | 16 (40%) | P = 0.669 |
| Regional hospital | 2 (5%) | 2 (5%) | 16 (40%) | |
| District hospital | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (5%) | |
| Overall | 2 (5%) | 4 (10%) | 34 (85%) | |
Type 1 training mode: Training items only for exercises without real practice.
Type 2 training mode: Training items only for real practice without exercises.
Type 3 training mode: Training items including exercises and real practice.
Discussion
According to the early academic reports in Taiwan, the development of dental radiology technology has a history of more than 100 years in Taiwan.1,2 However, up to date, although 10 medical radiation schools have established in Taiwan and 3 of them even have graduate programs for the PhD degrees, there is still no standard dental radiology education system (including the curriculum standards and teaching materials/methods) established. Although some medical radiation schools offer independent dental radiology curricula for their undergraduate students, up to date, only few dental radiology curricula are available, and most of them are elective courses. For medical radiation students, their dental radiology knowledge mainly comes from taking a general medical radiology course which includes only a small amount of dental radiology content. Therefore, when medical radiation students receive clinical internship training in the qualified hospitals, most of them have only a little amount of dental radiology knowledge.3
Fortunately, the relevant regulations of Taiwan's national license examination for medical radiation technologists have a basic requirement for dental radiography in the training connotation of clinical internship for medical radiation students. Therefore, our medical radiation graduates have at least some learning or practicing experience for dental radiography. However, there is still no clear teaching standard of dental radiology. According to the regulations of the national license examination, medical radiation interns must complete three major internship subjects. Among them, there is an internship subject for radiological diagnosis, in which the training connotation must include 11 items for general radiography, special radiography, angiography, cardiac catheterization, dental radiography, computed tomography, general ultrasound, obstetrics and gynecology ultrasound, cardiac ultrasound, neurovascular ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging. The minimum standard of practice weeks (hours) for this internship subject is totally 12 weeks (480 h), but dental radiography is only a small part of this internship subject.5 This also means that each medical radiation intern can only study the dental radiography for a maximum of 1 week (40 h) during their internship.
However, according to our past observations, some dental radiology departments of teaching hospitals only provided 4-h training course of dental radiography for their medical radiation interns. This is the least amount of training hours we know. In fact, the survey of this study was limited to dental radiology departments of teaching hospitals. Some teaching hospitals do not have an independent dental radiology department, or the training tasks of dental radiography are entrusted to general radiation departments. Therefore, medical radiation interns who practice in the hospitals with this situation may have fewer opportunities or hours to learn or practice dental radiography. The number of training hours of dental radiography provided to each medical radiation intern varies greatly among different teaching hospitals. The reason is that the relevant regulations of the national license examination do not specifically stipulate the basic training items and training hours of dental radiography.5
To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to analyze the dental radiology training items and content provided by the teaching hospitals to their medical radiation interns. The results of the study showed that the teaching resources of dental radiology, including teaching hospitals and instructors (medical radiation technologists), for medical radiation interns were concentrated in high-level hospitals such as medical centers, especially the medical centers in the northern region of Taiwan. Moreover, a higher proportion of the medical centers had the medical radiation interns in their dental radiology departments. This uneven distribution of dental resources is a common phenomenon in Taiwan. Our previous studies have also confirmed that dental institutions (such as hospitals and dental clinics), dental training institutions for postgraduate year training program of dentists, dentists, dental specialists, dental students, and dental-related personnel were all unevenly distributed.3,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
On the other hand, the number of training items for dental radiology provided by each teaching hospital varies greatly, ranging from only one training item to a complete set of seven training items. Usually, the higher-level hospitals such as the medical centers could provide more training items (about 5 on average), but most hospitals at all levels provided at least 3 training items. This also means that the teaching activities of the dental radiology departments in most teaching hospitals for their medical radiation interns are relatively mature. There were two kinds of training items, including exercises without direct contact with the patients and real practice with direct contact with the patients. Generally, even teaching hospitals did not provide a complete set of seven training items for dental radiology, but most of their training items included at least one exercise and one real practice. We also think that this is the most suitable training mode, because medical radiation interns need to have sufficient exercises before they have direct contact with the patients in the real practice.
Based on whether the operator touches the patients' mouth when operating, dental radiography is divided into two types: intraoral and extraoral radiographies. Periapical and bite-wing radiographies are the most commonly used and most important dental radiographies in the daily dental practice, and they belong to the intraoral radiography. Among the seven training items, exercises before real practice and practice for the partial and full-mouth dental radiographies are all intraoral radiographies. Therefore, the majority of hospitals (37 of 40 or 92.5%) provide at least one training item stated above. However, since the process of taking periapical or bite-wing radiography may touch the patients’ mouth, some hospitals (12 of 40 or 30%) did not allow medical radiation interns to practice these items in the period of COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the panoramic and cephalometric radiographies belong to the extraoral radiography. Because panoramic radiography is very popular and covered by the national health insurance (NHI) benefits,19 the practice for the panoramic radiography has become the main training item, and the majority of the qualified teaching hospitals (38 of 40 or 95%) provide this training item.
By Taiwan's current regulations, dentists and medical radiation technologists are the only medical personnel qualified to operate dental X-ray machines. According to the statistics from the websites of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Atomic Energy Council, there were 7134 dental institutions (including 6922 dental clinics) with 14,610 dental X-ray machines in Taiwan in 2021. However, there were 1,5741 dentists (13,539 working in the dental clinics) and 7085 medical radiation technologists (6518 working in the hospitals and no one working in the dental clinics). This means that hospital dentists still have a chance to rely on medical radiation technologists to perform dental radiation work, while the clinic dentists do not rely on medical radiation technologists to perform dental radiation work at all.3 Among various medical radiation workplaces, dental radiation work is a relatively safe job with low radiation exposure.20 For medical radiation technologists, their involvement in dental radiation work still has space for growth and is a viable direction in the future. Therefore, it is the right time for exploring dental radiology education for medical radiation students in Taiwan. Currently, both the dental departments of hospitals and dental clinics have various types of dental X-ray machines for periapical, bite-wing, occlusal, panoramic, and cephalometric radiographies. Besides, the CBCT is also gradually popularized in general dental clinics. It is meaningful for medical radiation students to learn the techniques of dental radiology.
Based on our observations, the dental radiology teaching places, such as university hospitals, which have dental students and medical radiation students at the same time, have better learning effect on dental radiology. This is the advantage of blended learning, as students from different backgrounds can learn each other's strengths during the training process. However, this study found that the fundamental problem of dental radiology education in Taiwan is the shortage of dental radiology teachers (both dental radiology teachers in the dental schools and senior medical radiation technologists). According to the statistics from the website of the Ministry of Education, there were 642 medical radiation graduates in 2021. On average, these medical radiation technologists in the teaching hospitals may instruct 8–9 medical radiation interns per year. Therefore, it is imperative to establish an exclusive dental radiology department in the dental department of each hospital, enrich its full-time medical radiation technologists, and increase the ratio of the teaching hospitals which can recruit medical radiation interns to their dental radiology departments for learning dental radiology.
Furthermore, we consider that it is necessary to establish a standard dental radiology education system. This includes at least one common dental radiology subject for medical radiation students, enabling them to have sufficient knowledge of dental radiology when they become medical radiation interns. In addition, the relevant regulations need to formulate the basic requirements of the training items and training hours for dental radiology internship. Thus, medical radiation interns can acquire the operation skills related to dental X-ray machines after completing the dental radiology internship training, which can also increase the possibility of hospitals’ investment in the field of dental radiology in the future. We also need to cultivate more medical radiation technologists to further enrich the teaching staff of dental radiology.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
Acknowledgments
None.
Contributor Information
Yin-Lin Wang, Email: wil1019@ntu.edu.tw.
Chun-Pin Chiang, Email: cpchiang@ntu.edu.tw.
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