A user report by Dr. Farina Blattner

Being used for more than 80% of the treatments, it is an indispensable part of the orthodontics department in our practice: the curing light. Regardless of whether a bracket got detached, brackets must be attached, or composites need to be cured - without a curing light our practice would come to a standstill. As we do have a high patient frequency and often squeeze in patients for minor repairs, this treatment step always must be done very quickly.

I personally create many, and almost only, indirect bracket bondings. Therefore, I produce customized bonding trays, which are then light cured. Initially, I simply used my husband's curing light from our general dental practice. Unfortunately, I noticed that it did not cure through very well and the brackets fell off directly with the trays, as only the edges were properly cured.

Thus, I started looking for a light with a deeper and more complete curing capacity and found the VALO™ curing light (Ultradent Products), which gave the ideal answer to all my challenges. It completely solved the problem of insufficient curing processes and brackets falling off. This was back in 2012.

Ever since, I have been a great fan of the VALO™ curing light product line and am delighted to follow the further developments and every new generation of these lights. I have been working happily and successfully with the successor model VALO™ Grand light for several years in my practice and likewise started to use the latest version, the VALO X light.

Particularly, the VALO X light offers much more than one would expect from a curing light. It can be compared to a car: the minimum requirement is that it drives properly. All other functions serve to provide comfort, user-friendliness, and extra convenience. The minimum requirement regarding a curing light is a uniform curing process and a sufficient in-depth curing result. It is almost superfluous to mention that the VALO X curing light meets these criteria entirely and that it has never disappointed me in this respect. It both cures and penetrates perfectly and, thanks to the large lens with a diameter of 12.5 mm, it allows me to do my treatments extremely quickly.

In addition, the VALO X curing light gives me a good feeling and grants an ideal user comfort in all treatment situations. Every time I hold it, I am thrilled again! It is small, thin, lightweight, and lies perfectly in the hand. It has a graceful appearance, more like a conductor's baton than a traditional curing light, ensuring relaxed hand and finger positions, similarly to a pen. Being cordless, it offers me an outstanding flexibility of use in any room and at any dental unit.

The stable housing of the VALO X light incorporates a smooth surface, only two control buttons and no grooves or edges at all. No composite residues adhere to the curing light and the cleaning process is very simple and uncomplicated. Due to its small dimensions, the VALO X light only requires very little space on the counter, which is quite comfortable and of course very convenient for me and my patients during the treatment process. When bonding brackets to the posterior molars, my experience has shown that it is not only difficult to have a decent view of the working field, but that also the cheeks and the tongue are always somehow in the way. Thanks to the slim head design of the VALO X light, this is not a problem any longer. It provides a good accessibility and visibility of the treatment area, as well as sufficient comfort and convenience for my patients.

Speaking about patients: I always like to involve my patients in the treatment process and the results in an entertaining way. Also in this regard, the VALO X curing light offers some positive additions. Being that enthusiastic about the VALO X light, I never miss the opportunity to explain its advantages to my patients - in an age-appropriate way, of course. In front of the kids, I love to call the VALO X light a magic wand, with which I can do all sorts of great things.

My patients receive a mirror to observe the composite around the bracket glowing while the black light mode is activated. In addition to the two curing modes Standard and Xtra Power, the VALO X light offers useful diagnostic aid modes with white and black light. These are invaluable when ensuring whether all composite residue has been removed. Recently, a tiny bit of composite residue was still left on a patient's tooth. It was situated at the far distal end, and it would never have been visible with the eyes only. With the VALO X light, however, I was able to detect and remove it effortlessly. The VALO X light makes my life easier, my treatments better, and my patients happier. In the past, composite residue made the patients return to my practice as they suddenly noticed a black line on their tooth. Fortunately, such unpleasant situations are done and dusted as I can always be sure to offer the very best to my patients.

I also like to use some of the specific VALO X accessory lenses, for example to concentrate the light beam even more with the help of the diagnostic aid mode or to illuminate the approximal areas. These useful accessories demonstrate that the manufacturer genuinely considered which features could be improved for us users and how we can be ideally supported. This makes working fun.

Another ingenious function of the VALO X curing light is the ability to switch between the single curing and diagnostic aid modes with a simple hand movement from right to left or from front to back. This is convenient for me as a user, as I no longer have to search laboriously for the different buttons. At the same time, it is entertaining for my patients. I only use the VALO X control buttons to switch the light on or off.

As mentioned already, the VALO X light offers far more than one would expect from a curing light. Not just me, but my entire practice team as well as my patients are impressed by this light. The VALO X curing light is an important element in our daily practice work and a helpful tool for the patient retention and the assurance of diagnostics.

About the dentist

Dr. Farina Blattner, M.Sc., is a dental technician and orthodontic dentist at her practice “Dr. Blattner” and the managing director of the training center FUNDAMENTAL in Remscheid. Through both roles, Dr. Farina Blattner knows exactly what is needed in practice as a practitioner and what quality standards her colleagues set in everyday practice.