Effect of environmental factors on film badge dosimetry readings of dental office personnel.

Inadvertent exposure of film badges to environmental factors may produce fogging of the film and yield higher radiation exposure readings. Common environmental factors in everyday living were studied to assess their effect on film badge readings. Only heat appeared to have any significant effect, because moisture, chemicals, pressure, cold temperature, and non-work-related electromagnetic radiation did not substantially alter film badge readings. Therefore not all unexplained high readings on personnel film badge reports may be due to heat or other common environmental factors evaluated in this study.