Abstract
Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine students' difficulties in the process of oral radiography practice, to raise awareness of the importance and necessity of oral radiography and decipher, and to provide some information on effective ways of oral radiography practice. Methods : The subjects in this study were 285 dental hygiene students at K college, who included 153 sophomores and 132 graduates-to-be from June to November, 2010. Results : 1. The parts of the anatomy structure that they found it most difficult to decipher were maxillary molar(25.3%) and lower molar(22.1%). 2. They made during oral radiography was an improper film positioning(35.1%). 3. The part of bisecting technique was adjusting vertical and horizontal angles(53.0%). 4. The part of paralleling technique was positioning XCP in the oral cavity(44.2%). 5. The part of bite-wing technique was adjusting vertical and horizontal angles(38.2%). 6. The part of occlusion technique was positioning film and tube head(36.5%). 7. The part of panorama technique was finding out program setting(42.5%). Conclusions : The findings of the study indicated that in terms of anatomy structure decipher, it's especially difficult to decipher maxillary molar and lower molar, and that film positioning was difficult to do in the process of oral radiography. What difficulties they faced in applying each kind of oral radiography techniques and which part of the oral cavity they found it hard to radiograph were analyzed as well in this study. Given the findings of the study, more intensive practice is required to help students to acquire accurate oral radiography techniques to ensure their successful job performance in the future.