Dentistry Journal

Background: Optimizing radiographic use in children is essential to balance diagnostic benefit against radiation risk. This audit evaluated imaging utilization, cumulative exposure, and adherence to justification principles among CBCT-referred children and adolescents. Methods: A retrospective audit was conducted within Dubai Health, including 149 children aged 5–17 years identified through CBCT examinations performed during a one-year retrieval period (January–December 2025), whose complete historical dental imaging records were reviewed. Data included modality, frequency, inter-examination intervals, cumulative exposure, radiation dose metrics, and clinical justification. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: A total of 839 examinations were analyzed across five examinations. OPG was most frequent (n = 231), followed by BW (n = 200), IOPA (n = 167), CBCT (n = 158), and CEPHALO (n = 83). IOPA demonstrated the highest frequency and variability, including repeated short-interval imaging, whereas CBCT and CEPHALO were infrequent and rarely repeated. A clear dose hierarchy was observed (CBCT >> OPG > CEPHALO), with CBCT showing greater variability. Justification rates were high, particularly for CBCT and BW (100%), while OPG was lower (88.3%). A small subset exhibited higher cumulative imaging (up to ~19 examinations), increasing with age. Conclusions: Among CBCT-referred children and adolescents, imaging practices demonstrated strong adherence to indication-based use. These findings should be interpreted within the context of a CBCT-referred cohort and may not be generalizable to all pediatric dental patients.

Static computer-assisted implant surgery (sCAIS) relies on a chain of digital, manufacturing, and clinical steps to transfer the virtually planned implant position to the patient. Although static surgical guides improve implant placement accuracy compared with freehand techniques, clinically relevant deviations persist, and existing systematic reviews mainly report the final planned-versus-placed discrepancy, while evidence on individual workflow stages remains dispersed across several disciplines. This critical review synthesizes quantitative evidence on stage-specific sources of dimensional and angular inaccuracy across the complete workflow, including cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and intraoral data acquisition, image registration and segmentation, virtual implant planning, guide design, additive manufacturing, washing, post-curing, sleeve installation, sterilization, guide seating, and drilling. Reported stage-specific discrepancies are generally in the submillimeter range, commonly from several hundredths to several tenths of a millimeter, whereas final clinical deviations are larger, with pooled mean deviations of approximately 1.2 mm at the implant entry point, 1.4 mm at the apex, and 3.5° in angulation reported in a consensus meta-analysis. Because these values describe different quantities and differ in magnitude and direction, they cannot be compared directly or summed; their relationship to the final deviation is therefore presented as a conceptual framework rather than a quantitative model. Printer accuracy alone does not determine the accuracy of guided implant surgery. Validated printer–resin and post-processing protocols, appropriate guide design, verification checkpoints at stage transitions, and reliable clinical seating and stabilization are recommended to limit error transfer. Further research is particularly needed to quantify the isolated contributions of washing, post-curing, sleeve installation, guide movement, and operator-related intraoperative factors.

Background: Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) can support workplace-based learning, feedback, assessment, and readiness-for-practice decisions in dental and other oral health educations. However, educators may need practical guidance on how to develop and use EPAs across the curriculum. These tips build on established EPA principles and interpret them for dental educators. Their contribution is to provide context-sensitive guidance for applying these principles under the particular conditions of dental and other oral health education while preserving the defining features of EPAs. Aim: This paper aims to provide practical guidance for developing, implementing, and using EPAs in undergraduate dental and other oral health educations. Approach: Drawing on relevant literature and our experiences, we present twelve practice-based tips organized into three phases: development, implementation, and decision-making. Discussion: We believe that carefully developed EPAs can help oral health programs scaffold student progress and make readiness decisions for entrusted clinical participation more explicit for both students and supervisors. When deliberately designed and embedded in routine clinical education, EPAs can support shared expectations, meaningful feedback, individualized development, and defensible readiness-for-practice decisions. In undergraduate oral health education, EPAs can therefore be viewed as a framework for developing, discussing, documenting, and revisiting trust throughout the curriculum.