Drs. Poonam Jain and Adam Pershing’s September JADA article, "Depth of Cure and Microleakage With High-Intensity and Ramped Resin-Based Composite Curing Lights," tested composites using several lights, including the Virtuoso PAC light (Den-Mat, Santa Maria, Calif.), which was tested with a curing time of three seconds.
Den-Mat’s current instructions for the Virtuoso PAC light and the Sapphire, Den-Mat’s latest PAC light, recommend a default curing time of five seconds rather than three. Den-Mat has found this setting gives a deeper cure and would expect it to give superior results with either light compared with those reported in the article, especially for the more opaque composites.
The authors found that depth of cure varies widely, depending on type of composite, for any given curing time and light. All nine of their light/time combinations cured microhybrid composites to specification, while none did so for the more opaque flow-able, hybrid and condensable composites.
Thus, with any light, an important step for the practitioner is to test the composite and curing light together to find the time needed for a complete cure. The instructions for Den-Mat’s lights call for such testing, which can be done using the curing test rings provided with the lights.
The authors’ study showed that, even with just three seconds curing time, composites cured with the Virtuoso PAC light resisted microleakage and met depth-of-cure criteria similarly to composites given longer cures with other lights, and microhybrid composites were fully cured.
However, Den-Mat would like to remind practitioners that, for best results, its PAC lights should be used with curing times of five seconds rather than three seconds, adjusted if needed for the particular composite being cured.
