The radiation-absorbed doses from panoramic radiography, distal molar radiography, and a partial panoramic radiographic technique that exposes only the third molar region to radiation are compared. Doses of radiation to the submandibular salivary gland were comparable by all three techniques, but doses of radiation to the head and neck were reduced greatly by the partial panoramic radiographic technique. Partial panoramic radiography is a diagnostically satisfactory and a radiologically safer technique for evaluation of third molar pathosis than is panoramic or distal molar radiography.