Dental records: a Belgium study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to deduce the quality of the average dental record kept by Belgian dentists and to evaluate its potential use for forensic dental casework. The evaluated material originated from 598 Dutch speaking and 124 French speaking Belgian dentists who completed a questionnaire and returned it by mail or through the internet. The age of the participating dentists ranged from 22 to 72 years of age. The results of the inquiry were statistically analysed taking parameters such as language, gender, age, university and ZIP code into account. In general there was a tendency for the young dentists from the age category 22 to 34 years of age, especially those living in larger cities, to perform better on several of the questions asked such as completion of the dental record, storage of x-rays, working with digital x-rays and a digital dental record.