Evaluation of Ocular Hazards from 4 Types of Curing Lights

摘要

Objective: To assess the risk of ocular damage from 4 types of light curing units (LCUs) and to estimate the maximum permissible ocular exposure times from each LCU during an 8-hour workday.Methods: Four types of LCUs (plasma arc, low-power and high-power light-emitting diode, and quartz-tungsten-halogen) were used to cure a simulated restoration in the maxillary central incisor from the facial and palatal aspects. To simulate ocular exposure, the spectral irradiance (W/[cm~2-nm]) from the LCUs was measured 5 times at each of 3 distances (30 cm, 50 cm and 100 cm) from the tooth. The weighted blue-light and effective ultraviolet (UV) irradiances that would be received by the eye from each LCU were calculated.