Head of Laboratory Hilde M. Kopperud presented insight from NIOM on light curing in a webinar May 30th. The webinar can now be seen on NIOM’s YouTube channel and includes a summary of the Q&A session with selected questions and more in-depth answers. If you attended the webinar and would like to see the questions and answers, click here (at 19 min 30 sec into the presentation).
The topics for the 20 min presentation were:
Pulse, ramp, turbo and standard: what’s the best curing mode?
Kopperud presented that there are not conclusive results that ramp or pulse is better than continuous curing in clinical studies.
Is curing for 5 seconds enough? Why? Why Not?
NIOM recommends that a 5 seconds cure is not enough. Kopperud explained that at short curing times a very low conversion can be seen, potentially increasing the risk of monomer leaching to the patient.
Bulk-fill, dark and light shades: are they all the same?
The presentation discussed that investigations show variable results on depth of cure for bulk-fill materials and that the general recommendation is to cure for a minimum of 20 seconds. As well, darker and opaque shades may need prolonged curing times.
Four things to check when buying a new curing lamp.
The four points Kopperud pointed to were:
- The spectrum of the light: one, two or multiple peaks
- A reasonable intensity of the light: 500 – 2000 mW/cm2
- A uniform beam profile from the light tip
- Information and support from the supplier
For more comprehensive answers, please see the webinar video and skip to 19 minutes 30 seconds.
If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us!
