The importance of curing-light infection control

Like most instruments used repeatedly across patients, a curing light needs to be thoroughly cleaned between uses, with special consideration for how your particular model is meant to be maintained. Infection control is worth reviewing routinely, because the curing light is easy to overlook.

Why the curing light?

Your light is regularly exposed to contaminants such as saliva and blood, which makes it a prime candidate for transmitting pathogens between patients. Surveys have found that as many as two-thirds of dental practitioners do not consistently use infection-control barriers on the tips of their curing units, and that nearly 80% of light units showed material-particle buildup on the light-curing tip.

What should I do?

Protect and disinfect, and make sure your infection-control method still lets polymerization happen effectively. There are several common approaches, but many can meaningfully reduce the light's performance, some by as much as 30 to 40%. That loss is greatest with opaque barriers, and repeated autoclaving can also impede irradiance significantly.

You must ensure the curing light is both safely disinfected and effectively performing. In many cases a thin, clear barrier has only a mild effect that can be accommodated by adjusting your cure times to the new irradiance value. Measuring your light is what makes that adjustment possible.

What we recommend

• Test irradiance with and without your barrier to learn both the barrier's impact (so you can judge whether it's suitable) and the new irradiance value to look up in your materials' instructions for use.
• Use caution when selecting a barrier; avoid gloves or opaque sleeves.
• Apply the barrier properly: do not place the seam across the tip where light exits.
• Clean the light guide between uses, even when it is fully covered.
• Review your manufacturer's instructions for light maintenance; some lights cannot be autoclaved.
• Test your light regularly.

It is never a bad time to review and update infection control. The goal is simple: perform your craft knowing your patient is safe and that their restorations will last.

Testing your curing lights with infection-control barriers

A CheckMARC evaluation measures what your lights actually deliver in the operatory, barriers, tip wear, and all, so a drop in output gets caught and corrected rather than quietly shortening restorations. A CheckMARC evaluationmeasures your light's output with or without a barrier in place and gives you the adjusted curing times for the materials you actually stock.

Infection control and light performance are the same problem viewed from two angles. The clinics that handle both well are the ones that measure first, then cure to the number.