A study of the effects of lead foil in dental X-ray film packets on radiographic image quality.

The role of lead foil in protecting film from image degradation due to back-scattered radiation was studied. The effects of low-scattering (polystyrene foam) and tissue-equivalent (Lucite) materials on relative speed and modulation transfer factor (MTF) of the front and back films from Kodak DF-57 double film packets were evaluated. The relative speed of the back film with polystyrene foam behind the film was about 10% faster with lead foil. However, when Lucite was placed behind the film, lead foil eliminated the effect of scattered radiation on film density, MTF, was decreased by the presence of lead foil when polystyrene foam was placed behind the film. With Lucite, however, lead foil improved the MTF value, which was decreased by the scattered radiation at spatial frequencies over 5 cycle mm-1. These results suggest that lead foil itself causes scattered or secondary radiation and affects film speed and resolution. However, it also protects the film from scattered radiation from tissue behind the film and results in improvement in resolution.