If you would like to learn more about the IAEA’s work, sign up for our weekly updates containing our most important news, multimedia and more.
What can radiobiology bring to dentomaxillofacial radiology? A radiation protection perspective
Moderator: Jenia Vassileva (IAEA), Jeffery Price (IADMFR)
Welcome address: Reinhilde Jacobs (IADMFR)
Presenter: Sarah Baatout (CCK CEN, Belgium)
Date of broadcast: 26 March 2021, 2 pm CET
Organized jointly with the International Association of DentoMaxilloFacial Radiology (IADMFR)
About the webinar
The use of radiation in medicine has led to major improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. As the benefits for patients has gained recognition, the use of radiation in medicine has increased worldwide. This has also led to a growing level of attention regarding the potential subsequent effects from exposure to ionizing radiation.
It is important to address the health implications that may come with such low doses of ionizing radiation that can be encountered in the environment, occupationally and in the course of medical diagnostic procedures. Radiation sensitivity is related to age, genetics and other factors. Children and fetuses are particularly sensitive to radiation because their body cells still have to divide for the body to develop and there is a greater need to safeguard them in the long term against associated risk of cancer or other diseases.
Given the millions of dental radiography procedures worldwide every year, research is needed to increase our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of radiation effects following dental exposure, to find ways of identifying patients more likely to experience long term side effects, and to develop new approaches to decrease radiation exposure. Innovative high-throughput technologies that address biological questions about genetics, epigenetics and proteomics will allow us to better understand the influence of the genetic background of the patient in terms of radiation response. Some of those technologies, along with related research, will be presented in this webinar.
Learning objectives
- Learn about the level of recurrent imaging in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and associated radiation doses according to global estimates, as well as why this is a potential concern for radiation protection.
- Learn about the Linear Non-Threshold (LNT) model and the complexity of the various models of low dose exposure.
- Understand how to compare high versus low biological response to radiation.
- Learn about individual radiation sensitivity.
- Understand how to define biomarkers and what are the available biomarkers of radiation sensitivity.
- Understand how to address the need and how to propose approaches for further development of strategies to improve radiation protection of patients undergoing recurrent medical imaging procedures.
About the presenters
Prof Dr Sarah Baatout
Prof Dr Sarah Baatout is the Director of the Radiobiology Unit at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN), Mol, Belgium. She is also a guest-professor at Ghent University and KULeuven (Belgium) teaching and directing research in the field of radiation biology, radiation protection, space biology and medicine. For more than 20 years, she has been investigating the effects of ionizing radiation on health through the discovery of innovative biomarkers for personalized medicine and the understanding of individual radiation susceptibility through molecular mechanisms and tissue sensitivities related to the use of medical radiation in diagnostics (CBCT) and radiotherapy for cancer treatment.
Dr Baatout has also been investigating the effect of cosmic radiation on astronauts. She is Belgium’s representative at United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and a member of the Belgian High Council for Health. She was awarded the prestigious Wetrems prize by the Royal Academy for Sciences and Arts of Belgium for the best discovery in the field of natural sciences.
Presently, Dr Baatout is secretary–treasurer of the European Radiation Research Society and a member of two advisory committees for the European Space Agency: the Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee and the European Space Science Committee. She has been the (co-)promoter of 5 Postdocs and 15 PhD students and (co-) authored 150 international papers.
Prof Jeffery Price
Prof Jeffery Price is Clinical Professor and Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Department at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and adjunct associate professor of oral and maxillofacial radiology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Dentistry.
Prof Price completed a two-year hospital general practice residency at Mount Sinai Beth Israel medical center in New York before earning his Fellowship at the American Association of Hospital Dentists. He then practiced general dentistry for 24 years before entering oral and maxillofacial radiology. While in practice, Prof Price earned the Mastership of the Academy of General Dentistry as well as Diplomate accreditation from the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.
Prof Price is currently a co-principle investigator for a National Science Foundation-funded research project entitled A Machine Learning Framework for Comprehensive Dental Caries Detection. He has previously served as Chair of the education committee for the American Dental Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiologists.
Prof Price is a USA Director for the International Association of DentoMaxillofacial Radiology (IADMFR) and Secretary of its Board. He also serves on the editorial board for the Dentomaxillofacial Radiology journal and the Academy of General Dentistry Self-Instruction Committee and reviews several other journals.