A CROSS SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE INTENSITY OF DIFFERENT CURING UNITS USED IN PRIVATE DENTAL CLINICS OF KASHMIR

Abstract

The success of light‑cured restorative materials highly depends on the efficacy of light‑curing units. The most commonly used dental curing lights are LED lights. An appropriate intensity of light is the main factor in the polymerization composite restorations. Therefore it becomes pertinent to measure their intensity regularly to determine when the device needs to repaired or replaced. So we have taken this cross sectional study to measure the intensity of different curing devices used by clinicians of Kashmir. Eighty light curing units in different dental clinics in Kashmir division were examined for their output intensity by a radiometer. Among the total of 80 light curing units were examined, 60 (80%) were cordless LEDs and 20 (20%) were cabled corded devices. it has been demonstrated that cordless LED demonstrates better performance than cabled. Age of light cure units and contamination of tip affect the performance of units than the frequency of their usage. So a periodic maintenance of light cure units is advocated to achieve optimal performance.
Keywords:  LED lights, cordless LEDs