There is no more important piece of equipment in a modern dental practice than a curing light. Sure, the telephone is important. We have to actually have patients to treat. Yes, the computer and patient management system are vital. How else would we track and manage the treatment plans that need to be performed? I agree that we don’t need a curing light unless we have used a handpiece to prepare a tooth first.
But after all of that, almost all our restorations rely on adhesive dentistry and our curing lights. That means that choosing the right curing light is vitally important for our restorative practices. The Valo X by Ultradent is an amazing choice that can be the workhorse curing light for your practice.
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Valo X is the newest offering in the long and storied Valo line of curing lights by Ultradent. With its newest iteration, Ultradent has completely redesigned Valo X from its Valo Grand and Valo predecessors. The result is a sleek wand curing light made from aerospace-grade materials with a powerful cure and a broad spectrum that can do more than just curing.
As far as adhesive curing goes, the Valo X is chock-full of great features. One of those is the 12.5 mm lens, which is large enough to cure mesial and distal boxes of an MOD on a molar so that it can be done in one cure. The Valo X also has 12 LEDs, which yield a high-intensity, broadband light with tremendous beam uniformity, collimation, and curing depth. Just like an iPhone, the Valo X has an accelerometer that allows you to change modes quickly and easily without fumbling for buttons.
To toggle between curing modes, move the Valo X forward like you’re playing a drum. The available curing modes are standard mode and Xtra power mode. Standard power mode provides one 10-second curing cycle; Xtra power mode provides a fast, triple-pulsed curing cycle with a half-second cooling period between pulses and a two-second cooling period at the end. This ends up giving you the same amount of light in half the time as standard power mode, and the Valo X has helped manage the heat generated to diminish any iatrogenic damage.
The Valo X does more than cure, though. It also has diagnostic light modes. To toggle between those, move the light in a drum tap motion to the side to access and cycle through the modes. Included in the diagnostic light modes are white light and black light. White light mode can be used for crack detection and transillumination. Black light mode can be used to identify resin composite flash … and that weird stain on your office carpet. Included with the Valo X are several accessory lenses made for the diagnostic light modes.
Valo X comes with a couple of removable batteries and a charger. There’s also a cord adapter included in case you are stuck in a situation with uncharged batteries. It is sleek, sexy, powerful, and easy to use—what more could you ask for in a curing light?
Editor's note: This article appeared in the January 2023 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
