Awareness and Practices Regarding Radiation Safety Among Dental Students

Background: Dental radiography is integral to contemporary clinical decision-making, yet ionizing radiation entails preventable occupational and patient exposure risks; adherence to radiation protection principles such as ALARA is therefore essential during undergraduate clinical training. Objective: To assess dental students’ awareness, attitudes, and clinical practices regarding radiation safety and to examine associations of training exposure and academic level with key protective behaviors. Methods: A cross-sectional observational survey was conducted over two months among 203 undergraduate dental students selected by convenience sampling. A structured, literature-informed online questionnaire captured demographics, training exposure, knowledge/awareness, attitudes, and self-reported radiation safety practices. Descriptive statistics summarized responses, and chi-square tests assessed associations between selected variables, reporting effect sizes using Cramér’s V. Analyses were performed in SPSS v25 with two-sided significance set at p