Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 30, 2026
Application of Light-cured Dental Adhesive Resin for Mounting Electrodes or Microdialysis Probes in Chronic Experiments
Published on: July 30, 2007
Depth of cure efficacy of high-power curing devices vs traditional halogen lamps
Massimo Gagliani1, Luigi Fadini, Jörg Michael Ritzmann
1School of Dentistry, University of Milan, Italy. massimo-gagliani@unimi.it
Purpose:
To determine the depth of cure resulting from three different curing devices in a photoactivated microhybrid composite through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of leachable monomers.
Materials And Methods:
Three different curing units, a halogen lamp (Heliolux, Vivadent), a xenon lamp (Kreative Kuring, Allyn Welch), and a plasma-arc lamp (Apollo 95, DMDS) were investigated using a universal microhybrid composite (P 60, 3M) as the test material. To assess the effect of curing device variation, a flexural strength test was performed. In addition, samples of composite were prepared and cured "in contact" (0 mm between the sample surface and light-guide tip) and through a specific thickness of composite (1, 2, or 3 mm). The monomers (bis-GMA and UDMA) eluted from the samples were detected by HPLC.
Results:
No significant differences were found in the mechanical properties of composite cured with different light sources. In contrast, the concentration of eluted monomers (bis-GMA, UDMA) at a depth of 2 mm and more was significantly higher for the specimens cured with the high-power curing devices than those cured with the traditional halogen lamp.
Conclusion:
Under these experimental conditions, high-power curing devices were shown to be inferior in the deep polymerization of resin composite when compared to a traditional halogen lamp.
