Generation of Changes of Dental Curing Light

Light-curing resin composites were introduced to restorative dentistry in 1969. The earliest light-cured materials were photopolymerized with ultraviolet light-polymerizing devices. This use of light curing ushered in an era of command set. When the light irradiated the restorative material, it initiated the setting-photopolymerization reaction of composite resins. The use of light curing paralleled the introduction of adhesive bonding of composites to enamel. These early curing lights had limited depth of cure due to the shorter wavelengths (10 nm to 380 nm) of UV radiation energy. In the mid-to-late 1970s, UV light-curing devices were phased out and replaced with visible light-curing devices using quartz-halogen bulbs (QTH) to light cure restorative materials that used photosensitive chemistries in the 460 nm to 480 nm wavelength, typically camphorquinone (CQ) for polymerization of composites.5 The longer wavelengths of this visible light spectrum allowed for a more penetrating curing light and light energy. This increased energy of photopolymerization introduced an era of improved physical properties with resin-based composites that were set by exposure to relatively safe, high-intensity light sources.

In the 1990s, there were significant improvements in best dental curing light devices. QTH devices had improvements that increased the energy to at least 6,000 mW/cm2, and in some cases using specialized turbo tips, more than 1,300 mW/cm2.2,6 At the same time, high-intensity light sources (a fluorescent bulb containing plasma) for resin-based composite curing and plasma-arc curing (PAC) with an irradiance range of 400 nm to 500 nm were introduced.6 A comparison of QTH- and PAC-cured composite resins demonstrated variation based on the composites and individual lights for different physical properties, but no one light type performed better than another.

A significant change in how resin-based composites were light cured occurred in the late 1990s, with the introduction of light-emitting diodes (LED) that provided light in the blue-visible spectrum with a range of 450 nm to 490 nm.8 Currently, the latest generation of LED curing devices provide consistent energy outputs of greater than 1,000 mW/cm2.2,9,10 The benefits of the latest generation of LED curing lights can include: higher, consistent light-energy output through emitter life; lightweight cordless features with rechargeable batteries; heat sink or quieter cooling fan; broader light spectrum with multiple LEDs for photopolymerization of resin-based composites with both CQ and other photoinitiators; and more useful light transmitted in ranges because of wavelength-specific emitters.

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