Training and experience effect on light‐curing efficiency by dental practitioners

Abstract

Background: Light-curing is a crucial step during the application of composite resin restorations. Composite's success depends on delivering enough light energy to the resin to achieve adequate polymerization. However, dentists are not recognizing the importance of proper light-curing technique. Objectives: To measure light energy delivered to simulated restorations by preclinical dental students and dentists in internship year. To evaluate the effect of experience and training on the clinician's ability to light-cure composite restorations. Methods: A group of 50 preclinical dental students and a group of 50 internship dentists light-cured for 10 seconds, a simulated class III and class I restorations positioned in a patient simulator (MARC-Patient Simulator [BlueLight Analytics Inc., Canada]) that measured the irradiance and energy delivered by the curing light. Then participants received individualized training on optimizing their light-curing technique. They were retested after the training. Statistical analysis was done with two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test. Results: Participants delivered an average of 60% more energy after the instructions, which is a significant improvement (P < 0.05). The number of participants that failed to deliver the minimum amount of energy (6 J/cm 2 ) decreased significantly from 37.5% to 2.5%. There was a significant difference in the amount of energy delivered by the Preclinical and Internship groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Initially, many participants were not using the curing light properly.Light-curing technique improved with training and using a patient simulator. Experience can enhance the operator's ability to light-cure composite restorations. However, a training session can improve light-curing performance more than years of experience. K E Y W O R D Scuing lights, dental education, light-curing, resin restoration, restorative dentistry 652

Knowledge and Attitude of Dental Clinicians towards Light-Curing Units: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Operator technique is one of the factors that affect the radiant exposure delivery to a restoration. It is well documented that there was an improvement in the total amount of curing energy delivered after students had received the proper instructions on using LCU [ 28 – 30 ]. Positioning the LCU tip as close as possible and perpendicular to the restoration maximizes the amount of energy to RBC [ 31 ].…”

Effectiveness of Using an Instructional Video in Teaching Light-Curing Technique

“…1,[23][24][25] Training of light-curing skill on the MARC-PS improved the students' performance. 1,[26][27][28] Training tools with digital visual feedback can help teach students complex practical procedures. 1,[26][27][28] Literature showed that using MARC-PS when providing individualized verbal coaching instructions helped teach light-curing technique and deliver sufficient amounts of radiant exposure to the simulated cavity.…”

“…1,[26][27][28] Training tools with digital visual feedback can help teach students complex practical procedures. 1,[26][27][28] Literature showed that using MARC-PS when providing individualized verbal coaching instructions helped teach light-curing technique and deliver sufficient amounts of radiant exposure to the simulated cavity. 1,27,28 Furthermore, MARC-PS provides objective measurements in terms of providing calculated irradiance and radiant exposure values delivered to the simulated cavities in addition to the graphs that provide immediate visual feedback to students.…”

“…1,[26][27][28] Literature showed that using MARC-PS when providing individualized verbal coaching instructions helped teach light-curing technique and deliver sufficient amounts of radiant exposure to the simulated cavity. 1,27,28 Furthermore, MARC-PS provides objective measurements in terms of providing calculated irradiance and radiant exposure values delivered to the simulated cavities in addition to the graphs that provide immediate visual feedback to students. 1,27,28 Therefore, exploring the effectiveness of using an instructional video (V) to demonstrate the light-curing technique to dental students compared to individualized verbal instructions (I) using a patient simulator was worth exploring.…”

Influence of different power densities during polymerization on the color of composite resins

“…Most resin composites used today in Dentistry are presented initially as monomers converted into polymer chains using light sources [9]. There is a direct relationship between the degree of conversion of monomers and the longevity of restorations [10,11]. A satisfactory polymerization provides resins with good biocompatibility, hardness, physicochemical properties and resistance to masticatory forces to which they are subjected [11,13].…”