Dental Radiography for dental care professionals
Overview
The BDA online Radiography course teaches you how to use X-rays safely, and how to take common radiographs. The course leads to the BDA Education Certificate in Dental Radiography – nationally-recognised qualification that entitles you to take radiographs unsupervised.
The course is approved by the British Society of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology, and the Society and College of Radiographers.
You may wish to read about a dental nurse who successfully completed our qualification. You can read her story here. Hopefully her success will inspire you to study with us.
To be eligible for the course you must:
- Be GDC-registered
- Have the support of a GDC-registered dentist
- Have access to radiographic equipment necessary to complete the Portfolio.
Course aims and objectives
The course covers the following topic areas:
-
Introduction to radiation
- Introduction to radiography
- Intra-oral radiography
- Panoramic radiography
- Other practical techniques
- Quality assurance and the law
- Image interpretation.
Assessment
You will be required to complete 25 modules, 5 quizzes and a practise test over a period of 8 weeks. You will then be expected to complete a Practical Portfolio – under supervision – consisting of 40 radiographs:
- 10 panoramics
- 10 pairs of bitewings
- 20 paralleling technique periapicals.
You will be given approximately 5 months to complete the practical work.
Once the Portfolio has been completed to the required standard, you will then sit a 1 hour, online, multiple choice examination. You will be awarded the BDA Education Certificate in Dental Radiography upon passing the final examination. Exams are held in March, September and November of each year.
The final exam must be taken on a PC or laptop with a built in or external webcam and microphone. A broadband internet connection will also be required.. The computer can be a Windows machine or a Mac. The exam cannot be taken on a smartphone, tablet or Chrome book as they are not compatible with the exam software.
Learning materials and support
We will provide you with everything that you need, namely:
- The textbook: ‘Radiography and Radiology for DCPs' by Eric Whaites
- Revision notes, quizzes and mock examinations
- BDA Advice sheets and guidance notes
- Revision notes for offline study
- A 7 week revision course to help you prepare for the final exam.
Additionally, our dedicated teaching staff will email you every week with advice, and are available to answer your questions from the day you enrol until the day of your exam.
Contact us
radiography.support@bda.org or 0207 563 6888
