general practice feature
Curious Curing How do you know if you’re getting the right output from your LCU?
by Richard Price, BDS, DDS, MS, FRCD(C), PhD Dr. Richard Price is the division head for fixed prosthodontics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Price also works as a prosthodontist in the faculty practice at the university, is involved in research on implants, dental resins and curing lights, and teaches about light curing. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. In 2014 and 2015 he organized two symposiums on light curing in dentistry at Dalhousie University, which were attended by more than 40 key opinion leaders from academia and industry.
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Dental curing units, or light-curing units (LCUs), are essential in dental offices; they are used daily in restorative dentistry, orthodontics and hygiene to cure resin-based restoratives, luting materials and sealants. The clinical success of all these materials depends on the LCU delivering sufficient light to polymerize the resin—otherwise, incomplete polymerization will occur (Figs. 1a–1c, p. 52). Continued on p. 52
JULY 2016 // dentaltown.com