Evaluation of Uranium Levels in Zircon Dentures Using Neutron Activation Analysis Technology

We conducted this laboratory study to evaluate the radiation risks in dental materials. We chose zirconium, which is used in the manufacture of artificial teeth, fillings and crowns, from ten different materials that we collected from authorized sales agents in Baghdad and some hospitals. We used the neutron activation analysis method because it is a non-destructive and accurate method that takes a good amount of time. After preparing the samples by grinding and pressing them in moulds, each sample weighing one gram, we placed them on a cross-sectional trace detector with the same dimensions. Then we introduced them to the radiator located in the laboratory of Ibn Al-Haitham College of Education. The advanced nuclear laboratory is based on the interaction (241Am - 9Be) with an effectiveness of 12Ci and a neutron flux of 105 n.cm-2.sec-1 For seven days after that, we counted the traces using a microscope and took the average of these traces and then subtracted it from the value of the background activity of the environment. Using equations, we calculated the net number of traces, the density of these traces, the specific activity, the absorbed dose, the equivalent dose, the effective dose, and the hazard factor. We compared them with the other two studies that used European-origin zirconium. The result was that the presence of natural uranium-238 was proven through the traces of helium particles that formed on our trace detector CR-39. The highest value we obtained for the equivalent dose was... which is still within the permissible range set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.