Tag Archives: LED

Dental Curing Light

The Thing You Should Know about Dental UV Curing Light

UV Curing is defined as ‘a speed curing process in which high intensity ultraviolet light is used to create a photochemical reaction that instantly cures inks, adhesives, coatings and other materials’.

The use of a Liquid light guide, for example, is the most economical way of delivering high intensity UV light to materials. Light guides come in two, three or four pole configuration and filter mount assemblies are available to prolong their shelf life.

A radiometer is a useful tool to have in the UV Curing process since they allow operators to monitor and record the UV light curing process – for example a low UV intensity measurement would indicate to the user that part of the apparatus needs to be replaced. Radiometers also have the capability to confirm if the operator is sufficiently shielded from the UV light.

Conventional radiometers often allow a limited check of the light intensity of the curing device only. The reason for this are diverse technical limitations, such as the strictly defined diameter of the light measuring cell. As a rule, only approximate values are measured for each type of device (halogen, plasma, LED etc.). Owing to this fact, conventional radiometers can only be used for a relative light measurement or for checking the consistency of the light intensity.

Light polymerization is regarded as the no. 1 source of error when processing light-curing dental materials. Therefore, you should exercise extreme care in order to save time and not to jeopardize the success of the treatment.
We have compiled a quick guide for you to download. Here you will find essential tips on how to achieve optimum polymerization results.
Here are a few excerpts:

Check the light intensity of your dental curing light regularly and document the result.
Check and clean the curing light before use.
Observe the light curing times and material thickness information from the composite manufacturer.
Use a light guide which gives a uniform distribution of the light output across the light tip.
Position the light tip as closely as possible to the composite and secure it so that the curing light device does not slip.

Other accessories have been designed to offer protection from UV and visible light. Shields and stands offer protection from UV and visible light, whilst providing the user with clear visibility of the curing parts. Protective eye goggles are also recommended to provide additional protection from UV light exposure.

dental health

The Significance of Dental Intraoral Camera

An intraoral camera is a tool your dentist uses to examine your mouth in as detailed a way as possible. The instrument, which may look like an oversized pen, has a camera that takes high-resolution footage or images of a patient’s mouth and shows the visuals real-time on a monitor—they’re like high-tech versions of the hand mirrors you see in your dentist’s practice.

The intraoral camera enlarges the inside of the teeth to more than 40 times their actual size on a full color screen display. By zooming in on problem areas in affecting the teeth, dentists are capable of seeing much more than they could with the human eye alone. Often, dentists find the beginnings of periodontal disease or tooth decay that would have otherwise gone undetected if examined without the intraoral camera.

The intraoral camera is not just a diagnostic tool, but it also serves as an educational one too. In the past, dentists have struggled to explain dental decay and other health problems to patients. Most people cannot see well into their own mouths, which leaves dentists to drawing diagrams or using props to attempt to explain what is going on in the mouth of their patients.

Intraoral cameras have incredible technological features. With LED lighting, a head that rotates from 0 to 90 degrees, and powerful magnifying capabilities (some cameras can zoom in up to 100x), your dentist can examine your mouth in extreme detail. This means he or she can make diagnoses more accurately. The office can attach these photos to your health record to make tracking any changes simple. Additionally, because the visuals from the intraoral camera appear on the monitor as they’re taken, your dentist can discuss your oral health with you while you both see the images or footage.

The intraoral camera makes record keeping a breeze. Because the camera can take pictures of decay or the beginnings of oral health conditions, images can be printed and placed into patient files. Previously, dentists merely attempted to write an explanation of problems found during exams. Now, dentists can accurately track the progress of treatments or problems for years following a visit.

Dental Curing Light

The Advantages of LED Dental Curing Light

Dental curing lights allow us to initiate the polymerization reaction “on demand” for a vast array of materials. However, there is, perhaps, more misinformation and hype regarding this type of equipment compared to just about anything else we use on a daily basis. Most of these controversies center on how long you have to cure specific types of restorations as well as how deep you can cure specific types of materials.

Manufacturers continue to make outlandish claims of their curing capabilities, most of which fall into the “too good to be true” category. An example is the claim that a new light can accomplish a “5mm depth of cure in 3 seconds”. Please don’t be fooled by these ads – you absolutely, positively cannot cure a composite in three seconds.

There is the issue of LEDs not being able to cure all materials. There is no doubt that the vast majority of light-cured materials can be fully polymerized with an LED. However, the few materials that cannot be cured with an LED mandate that you still have a halogen around for these contingencies. This may be just a nuisance as long as you know which material falls into this category, but it won’t compromise patient care. But what if you don’t know that a material can’t be cured properly with an LED? More than likely, it will still get pretty hard, but its degree of cure will be compromised along with its long-term performance.

The obvious solution to this problem is to buy an LED light that is capable of curing all materials. Unfortunately, only a few of them have this capability and it may require using a special tip. Therefore, it is still somewhat of a guessing game and you just have to hope that you don’t guess wrong.

This brings us back to halogen lights, which have something that it will take LEDs a long time to duplicate: a solid track record. Introduced just about 25 years ago, halogen lights have been the mainstay for curing resin-based materials. What you see is what you get – without any unpleasant surprises. And while many lights along the way have been introduced with various bells and whistles to make them stand out from the crowd, probably the only relatively new design is possessed by the Swiss Master, with its water cooling and monster light bulb. But with a price tag at the top of the food chain, it is clearly not for everyone.