Effects of Declining Battery Voltage on Light Intensity and Power Consumption of Light-Curing Units

摘要

Light-curing units (LCUs) are used in orthodontics to achieve polymerization of resin-based composite (RBC) materials, primarily for bonding brackets. Polymerization is based on the presence of a photoinitiator, camphorquinone, which is sensitive to light around a 470nm wavelength; the degree of polymerization depends mainly on the light intensity. Most LCUs have a broad wavelength of 400-520nm, with a typical light intensity of about 400mW/cm. With recent developments, however, light intensity has reached as high as 3,000mW/cm