Radiation dose in radiography, CT, and arthrography of the temporomandibular joint.
Thermoluminescent dosimetry studies were performed on a Rando Humanoid head phantom to compare radiation dosages used in temporomandibular joint examinations. Studies included transaxial and direct sagittal high-resolution CT, reduced milliamperage dynamic CT, tomoarthrography, pluridirectional and linear tomography, pantomography, transcranial plain films, and fluoroscopy. Radiation doses were determined for the brain, lens, pituitary gland, condylar marrow, and thyroid gland. Condylar marrow received doses of 64 and 52 mGy, respectively, for the GE 9800 and 8800 high-resolution scans; 21 and 17 mGy, respectively, for the dynamically sequenced scans; and 26 mGy for the GE 9800 direct sagittal sections. Tomoarthrography yielded 31 mGy and fluoroscopy 12 mGy. Other lower doses showed 5 mGy for polytomography, 3 mGy for ipsilateral joint linear tomography, 1.9 mGy for the GE 9800 slow ScoutView, 1.8 mGy for xeroradiography, 0.9 mGy for contralateral joint linear tomography, 0.3-0.4 mGy for transcranial plain films and pantomography, and 0.2 mGy for the GE 8800 ScoutView. The estimated error in this study was calculated to be +/- 15%. On a relative scale, the radiation doses from high-resolution CT and tomoarthrography are high, dynamic CT yields a medium dose, and all other tomographic and plain-film techniques yield low doses.