Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A method and apparatus for checking the depth of cure of resins used to fill restorative cavities in teeth employs an opaque calibration box having two sections which can be placed adjacent each other to form, in the top of the apparatus, a plurality of holes of varying depths. A sample of a resin to be used in filling the restorative cavity is placed into a hole having a depth approximately the same as the depth of the restorative cavity in the tooth. The sample is then exposed to the curing light which will be used to cure the resin in the restorative cavity of the tooth. The sections of the calibration box are separated to determine the depth of cure at various points in time. The time required to cure the resin in the opaque calibration box determines the time required to cure the resin when it is inserted into a restorative cavity of approximately the same depth in the tooth. Periodic monitoring of curing characteristics using the calibration box also allows evaluation of the efficacy of a curing light over time.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim