We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Richard B. Price to discuss curing lights. For those not familiar with Dr. Price and his work, he’s widely considered the dental industry’s premier expert on curing lights and research surrounding dental light curing. In fact, he’s been cited in more than 3,000 peer-reviewed, published research articles in over 140 publications throughout his career, and he shows no sign of slowing down. His innate curiosity for studying the reasons behind common issues that dentists in every field face unexpectedly led him to his chosen field of study. He now finds great satisfaction in mentoring and conducting research with the upcoming generation of dental students, dentists, and dental researchers at Tufts University School of Dentistry and at various dental schools in Canada, Brazil, and Europe.

Dr. Sean Lee, the owner of Newtown Smile Dentistry in Newtown, Connecticut, believes in doing things right the first time. It’s this philosophy that guides how he treats his patients, performs the many dental procedures in his everyday work, and how he chooses products.

So many aspects and variables affect the final outcome of a restoration, be it the technical difficulty of the restoration itself, the quality of the preparation, the chosen composite resin used, etc. However, the impact of the success and longevity of a restoration’s polymerization is too often ignored. Achieving a predictable, high-quality cure every time is absolutely essential. Here are some factors that influence the quality of any cure, along with a few tips on how to successfully maneuver them to your and the patient’s benefit:

When Ultradent started manufacturing the VALO dental curing light in 2009, we aimed to produce the best curing light on the market, crafting each from a single piece of aircraft grade aluminum. So, it felt like destiny when the aeronautical DNA took over and we let a VALO light take flight.

Bonding is fundamental in all dental restorations. During the dental adhesive application procedure there are 3 critical, yet often times neglected, steps that we need to pay close attention to. They are: