[The accuracy and consistency of dental radiometers]

Radiometers are used in dentistry to evaluate the intensity of light emitted by curing lights. This article discusses the accuracy and consistency of radiometers. The study was done as two experiments, dividing radiometers by age. In experiment 1, one Heliolux II curing light was tested nine times with each of four old radiometers. In experiment 2 the same curing light was tested with three very new radiometers, under identical circumstances. In experiment 1, the average intensities measured by the radiometers ranged between 262 and 348 mW/cm2, while the standard deviation varied between 7.59 and 42.03. In experiment 2, the average intensities measured by the radiometers ranged between 240 and 283.75 mW/cm2, while the standard deviation varied between 0.00 and 4.63. The seven radiometers differed significantly (P < 5%). The conclusion of this study is that the consistency of the radiometers differs depending on the age of the unit, the state of repair of the unit, and how often it is standardised. In this study it was impossible to evaluate the accuracy of the radiometers.