Case study
You have just finished taking a full mouth series of periapical and bitewing radiographs. After processing and mounting the films, you notice the following:
1. The maxillary right molar periapical radiograph did not image the third molar.
2. The maxillary right canine periapical radiograph appears elongated, and the image of the root tip is not recorded.
3. The teeth contacts in the right premolar bitewing radiograph are overlapped. The overlapping appears most severe in the posterior portion of the image and less severe in the anterior region.
4. The left molar bitewing film was bent when it was placed into the image receptor holder.
5. The mandibular central incisors periapical radiograph appears very light, with a hint of a diamondlike pattern superimposed over the image of the teeth.
6. The film that should have been a left mandibular molar periapical radiograph is blank, with no hint of an image.
7. The left maxillary premolar periapical radiograph appears to have been double exposed. Consider these seven radiographs with the errors noted and answer the following questions:
a. What is the most likely cause of this error? How did you arrive at this conclusion?
b. Could there be multiple causes for this error? What other errors would produce this result?
c. Why do you think this error occurred?
d. What corrective action would you take when retaking this radiograph? Be specific.
e. What are you basing your decision to reexpose the patient on?
f. What steps or actions would you recommend to prevent this error from occurring in the future?