Resources / Blog
Light curing, in depth.
Clinical practice, DSO operations, manufacturer R&D, and dental-school curriculum, written by the team behind CheckMARC, MARC-LC, and MARC-PS. New pieces land alongside the relaunch as we curate the archive.
Latest
Reading from the team.
Evidence-led pieces on why curing is the step that decides a restoration, and what the data says about getting it right.
Finding answers to patient sensitivity and frustration
Sometimes the source of a clinical problem isn't the dentist or the materials; it's the equipment. One Montreal practice, 37 returning patients, and four curing lights.
Meet MARC, the patient that's changing the way you cure
Dental schools train students to place a restoration in elaborate detail, but rarely measure whether the light actually cured it. MARC-PS is the patient simulator that makes curing technique something you can see, score, and improve.
20 seconds in dentistry that doesn't come with training, but should
That quick burst of blue lasts about 20 seconds, but it can be the difference between a restoration that lasts and one that fails. So why does almost no one get trained on it?
9 ways your dental curing light could be putting composite restorations at risk
Your curing light makes much of the bread-and-butter dentistry you perform every day possible, but it also carries risk. Here are nine risk factors, and how to reduce each one for better patient outcomes.
How infection-control barriers impact dental curing light performance
Barriers and sleeves keep your curing light clean, but they also sit between the LED and the restoration. Here is what the evidence says about how much energy they cost you, and how to keep curing safely and effectively.
Why should I test my dental curing lights?
Every curing light degrades with use. This is what causes under-performance, what goes wrong when the curing time is off, how often to test, and how the testing is actually done.
The importance of curing-light infection control
Your curing light moves between patients all day, picking up saliva, blood, and material buildup. Protecting it matters, but so does proving it still delivers enough light through the barrier.
CheckMARC measures curing-light output to laboratory standard
In a study published in Dental Materials, CheckMARC measurements landed typically within 2% of an integrating sphere, the gold-standard benchtop instrument, across eight brands of LED curing light.
Dentists struggle to manage light-curing complexities
A CheckMARC field study of 915 curing lights across 422 clinics found that 30% could not deliver even half the energy dose their composite required. The problem isn't carelessness; it's that the light has been invisible.
More from the legacy archive is being curated and refreshed: 27 posts in the queue. Want a topic prioritized?
Pitch a post.
The blog is open to named contributions from clinicians, researchers, and operators. Send a pitch and an outline; we handle editing and credit you on the byline.