According to market data, 53% of dentists are using bulk fill composite material.¹ Bulk filling has come to mean the placement and light curing of resin in a single bulk layer instead of multiple thinner layers.

The goal of bulk fill composite is to simplify and speed up the procedure. While bulk fill has gained popularity for its simplicity of use, there is one considerable concern:

Do curing lights penetrate deeply enough to polymerize the resin?

Often, bulk fill restorations can reach 5, 6, 7 mm or more in depth. Failure to properly and uniformly cure to such depth leads to potential clinical problems such as poor physical properties including: wear resistance, retention, marginal integrity, and color stability. Incompletely cured material may also cause sensitivity and pulp irritation.

The VALO™ Grand curing light is designed for depth curing. As demonstrated in two comparative studies by Dr. Price et al 2,3 , the VALO Grand curing light produced the most homogeneous microhardness across the surfaces of the bulk fill material tested—thanks to its wide tip of 11.6 mm, its collimation, and uniform intensity output.

The VALO Grand curing light will effectively cure at depths up to 10mm. So, if you are bulk filling, make sure you are bulk curing too!

Click here to learn more about VALO Grand curing light.

Sources

1. Customer survey Ultradent Summit 2015, Data available on request.
2. Shimokawa C, Turbino ML, Giannini M, Braga RR, Price RB. Effect of Curing Light and Exposure Time on the Polymerization of Bulk-Fill Resin-Based Composites in Molar Teeth. Oper Dent. 2020;45(3):E141‐E155. doi:10.2341/19-126-L
3. Shimokawa CAK, Turbino ML, Giannini M, Braga RR, Price RB. Effect of light curing units on the polymerization of bulk fill resin-based composites. Dent Mater. 2018;34(8):1211‐1221. doi:10.1016/j.dental.2018.05.002