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What differencedoes itmake?Materials
withbothanalternate initator and
camphorquinone—theones youexpose
toamultiwave light—will curebetter at the
top surface than if youuseablue-onlyLED
light. However, theblue light penetrates very
deeply into thecompositeand that’swhere
thebulk strengthof thematerial comes from.
Withablue-only light, theblueoutput is
muchmore intensecompared to theblue
output of amultiwave light, so it’s a trade-
off. You’re likelygoing tooptimizecuring
performance if you select a light anda specific
composite from the samemanufacturer—but
youoftendon’t have that luxury.
JO:
Iwouldargue that, basedon today’s
light curingchemistries andmuchof the
supporting literatureanddata, thosecuring
lightswith2distinct LEDwavelengthsmayor
maynot provideanyadditional benefit to the
curingchemistry itself. Thebottom line is, I
thinkweneed to keep things simple.
HS:
Ingeneral, abuyer of amultiwave light
alsoneeds tobeaware that theblueand
violet light-emittingdiodes areplaced in
distinct locations in thecuring light head. The
sectionof the light head that has theviolet
LEDwill not effectivelycure the surfaceof a
composite that isonlyblue light sensitive. This
meanswhen the light illuminates the surface
of a restoration, onearea is exposed toviolet
light andanother area is exposed toblue
light. The locationsofwhere theviolet and
blue lights fallwithin thecavitypreparation
becomeof clinical relevance.
On the importanceof a
uniform lightbeam
JO:
I believe it’s important to select a
curing light that provides a light beam that
is relativelyhomogenousor uniformover
theentire tipat clinically relevant distances,
somewherebetween3–10mm. Preferably,
the light shouldnot haveadistributionof
what I call coldor hot spots; thegoal is to
ensureanevencuringacross theentire
restoration.
a
Towatch the full panel
discussionwithDrs.
Strassler, Oxmanand
Rueggeberg, visit:
