Dental radiology - basic

News

From June 2023 onwards, we also organize, together with the UMCG, the RPO course for the Conebeam CT in dental radiology. For more information, please contact our secretariat.

Final objectives

The training meets the final objectives for the Radiation Protection Officer in case of basic applications in dental radiology (Dental Radiology - basic), as meant in Annex 5.2, Section B-1 of the Regulation on Basic Safety Standards Radiation Protection.

Target group

A dentist who wants to use x-ray machines in his practice must be both competent and skilled. The competence is acquired by obtaining the diploma Radiation Protection Officer for dental radiology (RPO Dental Radiology - basic) or an equivalent diploma (radiation expertise Level 5A/M, Level 5A or higher).

Not all dentists who graduated before 2003 are in the possession of the  diploma RPO Dental Radiology - basic (formerly Level 5A/M or Level 5A). The Groningen Academy for Radiation Protection (GARP) offers the possibility to acquire this diploma. The course RPO Dental Radiology - basic is recognized by the Authorties by  ANVS Regulation, nr. ANVS-PP-2020/0057517-48, Staatscourant nr.68674, 24 december 2020). Part of this course is self-study, part of it is combined with a refresher course for dentists - the latter usually organized in collaboration with Wenckebach.

Dentistry students

Dentistry students must take the course RPO Dental Radiology - basic as part of the dentistry curriculum. They follow the course mainly in self-study and will find all relevant information on Brightspace.

Learning objectives

The general learning objective of the course is twofold:

1. The ability to independently assess the safety situation of employee and patient when working with ionizing radiation.
2. Acquiring the knowledge and insight required by the government to manage simple X-ray devices.

Both learning objectives are explicitly restricted to the application of intra-oral devices and orthopantomographs in the dental practice. Explicit attention is paid to legislation, and to the format and the content of the Nuclear Energy Act File required by the inspections, including the content of the prescribed risk analyzes.

Course material

The course material is contained in the book Health physics for radiation protection officers - dental radiology by Frits Pleiter, Hielke Freerk Boersma and Age Froma. The material is completed with a practical training manual edited by E.J. Bunskoeke MSc (Dutch only - only provided if practicals are obligatory, e.g. for undergraduate students).

Exam

At the end of the course, there will be an exam consisting of 40 multiple-choice questions with each four possible answers, and one or more open questions. One point is granted for each multiple-choice question that is correctly answered. For the open questions one may obtain a maximum of 10 points. The exam is passed if 30 out of the 50 available points have been obtained.

You must bring a simple calculator to the exam. It is very important to thoroughly study the entire booklet prior to the course.

Important dates

The next course for Dentistry students will start in the 2024-2025 season. 
Examination: 12 December 2024
Re-examination: 7 January 2025
Registration as indicated in Brightspace.

The next course for Dentists will be combined with a refresher for Dentists and will be given on 13 December 2024.
Examination: 20 December 2024 (to be confirmed)
Registration for the exam via the refresher course for dentists - please contact our secretariat.