Dental professionals want predictability and confidence with their products and procedures; however, when it comes to light curing dental materials there is a broad and often confusing array of curing light equipment and material protocols.

Restorative dentistry is responsible for more than half of the revenue generated for dentists, and problems lead to significant amounts of un-billable chair time. Light-cured restorative materials used in dental procedures are often faulted for failures, underperformance and other issues. Only optimally-cured restorative materials deliver the performance demanded by dentists and required by patients. However, the curing lights used in private practice are often in poor condition. Recent evidence has shown that in many cases, the light curing protocols used by the dentist will not result in the restorative material being cured as required.

3M has partnered with BlueLight Analytics to offer checkMARC, a professional service (NIST-traceable) for validating curing light performance and determining the required curing times for each curing light and material combination in a dental clinic.

With the checkMARC system, 3M will test and identify the efficacy of a dental office’s curing lights. Based on the results, 3M will review the light curing protocols currently in practice, and work together with the dental clinic to identify evidence-based opportunities to improve clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

As the market leader for restorative dentistry, 3M is dedicated to providing dental professionals the latest technologies and innovations in dentistry to improve practice productivity.

Dental clinics are invited to contact their 3M sales representatives, or call 800-634-2249 to set up an appointment to have their curing lights tested and light curing protocols reviewed. Visit 3M.com/curinglights for more information.

For more information about the checkMARC technology, visit: www.checkmarc.net.