One of My Top Test Drives of 2021 - Monet Handheld Curing Laser

As I’ve said in the past, curing is the stepchild of adhesive dentistry.  It’s always there, but no one ever pays any attention to it.  We’ve seen some pretty dramatic improvements in our curing devices over the past decade, but AMD has leap frogged the industry with the first laser that is the same size as the standard LED curing light.

A laser pushes all of its photons in one direction in a column of light.  Due to that, every photon created goes to the process of curing the composite.  The physics of LED lights means that as soon as the light leaves the LED, it begins to sort of “spray” in all directions.  That means wasted photons which do NOT help cure the composite.  The Monet focuses all of those photons in a single column of light.

Because of the intensity of the beam, AMD’s internal testing shows a depth of cure of at least 4mm.  In my own independent testing, I have seen similar numbers.

In situations where a Class II restoration is placed, most of us cure from multiple directions after we remove the “hardware” of our matrix system.  The idea is that coming at restorations from the  lingual, buccal, and occlusal gives us the best chance of ensuring an adequate cure.  Adding a curing laser to that equation means better depth of cure across the entire restoration.

The Monet also comes with some handy “aperture attachments” that can easily snap on over the curing lens.  These little clip-on attachments reduce the diameter of the beam to create different aperture tacking tips or smaller beams for more precise curing.

In addition to being a benefit for direct restorations, the Monet has benefits for indirect restorations as well.  The intensity of the beam assures the operator of a strong bond and effective photopolymerization even through thick restorations such as onlays.  This means that the user can have confidence that the restoration has a strong bond and is not relying on autopolymerizing resins to complete their chemical curing process. Lasers are truly the “next step” in our curing armamentarium.