The Best Dental Headlight And How To Know If It Is Right For You
While the right dental loupes can help you attain the needed visual acuity, using an appropriate lighting system such as a wireless dental headlight can further improve your view of your working area. Here are the best dental headlights and tips on how to know if it is the right one for you.
Visual acuity is critical to every dental procedure no matter how simple or complicated it is. While using the right dental loupes can help you attain the needed visual acuity, it is certainly not enough. You will need to use an appropriate lighting system to help improve your view of your working area.
Most often, dentists rely on using an overhead dental lamp or a typical operating light to illuminate their working area. Though these sources of light can provide general illumination, they can sometimes affect the color of the teeth and gums of the patient which makes it challenging for you to see their natural color. These lighting systems may also provide less amount of illumination to focused areas. This can lead to wrong diagnosis and less accurate operation. Moreover, using an overhead dental lamp or operating light can affect your focus and comfort level. Since they are placed above your head, you can expect to see shadows of yourself- your head or hand- and of the tools and instruments, you are using. To avoid the shadows, you will need to change positions from time to time or to change the angle of the lamp every now and then. This cannot only affect your comfort level and focus but the constant changing of positions and angles can also add to the time you need to spend for every dental procedure that you do.
Another source of light that is getting more and more popularly used in the dental and surgical fields nowadays is the LED surgical headlight. This light source is typically worn by the dentists or surgeons on their head or as an added accessory to their dental magnification loupes. A dental headlight can be worn alone and it can also be mounted on the loupes.
The good thing about dental headlight is that it eliminates most of the concerns related to using an overhead lamp or operating lights. One is that it does not cast a shadow of the user and does not require constant manual adjustment. Since it is worn in the head, the wireless dental headlight can easily be adjusted by simply moving your head- it goes where your head’s direction goes. It also allows you to provide enough quality and quantity of illumination to focused areas, thus, helping improve your visual acuity further.
These are just some of the amazing things a dental headlight offers. Some of the benefits it provides are:
- It is more economical.
- It is portable and can easily be carried around anytime.
- It provides a shadow-free, uniform, and consistent color to the focused area.
- It comes with an orange filter which makes it possible to use the light without premature composite curing
- It is positioned perfectly in-line with your loupe’s line of sight.
- It allows greater control over your work environment.
The best dental headlights available on the market today
There are two primary types of dental headlights available today- the wireless and wired headlight. Listed below are the top choice for each type.
- Orchid Dental Surgical High Power Wired Headlight
Orchid is the leading brand of high power wired headlight. This super bright headlight provides up to 65,000 lux light intensity and a light spot size of 3.2" at 12" focused beam. This portable wired headlight weighs only around 9 grams or 0.3 oz, making it a perfect choice for those looking for a lightweight light source that they can add to their loupes.
The Orchid Dental Surgical High Power Wired Headlight comes with a built-in curling filter, 16 steps dimmer control, and 2 rechargeable batteries which can be fully charged for approximately 2.5 hours with up to 10 hours run-time per charge.
- Butterfly Dental Surgical Wireless LED Headlight
The Butterfly Dental Surgical Wireless LED Headlight offers users with more comfort and freedom of movement. With wireless headlight, you no longer have to worry about tangled wire anymore. This portable wireless headlight provides 35,000 LUX adjustable light intensity and a light spot size of 3.2" at 12" focused beam. It is super lightweight with only 23 grams or 0.8 oz total weight including the battery.
The Butterfly Dental Surgical Wireless LED Headlight comes with blue light compliance, over 50,000 hours bulb life, 3 rechargeable batteries which can be fully charged for approximately 1 hour with up to 3 hours run-time per charge per battery.
How to know if your chosen dental headlight is right for you?
Not all dental headlights available on the market today are suitable for you. In order to maximize the benefits of dental headlights, you need to first find the right one for you. Fortunately, there are things that can help you know whether your chosen dental headlight is right for you or not.
- Weight
It is always best to go for the lightest headlight available.
- Beam or Light Color
The best light or beam color for dental procedures is pure white or those with an illumination color similar to that of the natural daylight- that is approximately 5,500 degrees Kelvin. This light will reveal the natural shade of the teeth, gums, and oral cavity in general without any color distortion. And it is also way better than the yellow tinted dental lamps that are often used by dentists. Natural white also help you easily see any imperfections during restoration works.
- Light Intensity
The lux level or light intensity is primarily dependent on personal preference. You also need to consider how or when you are going to use the headlight. Some dental procedures would require brighter light than others. For general use, you can opt for 25-30,000 lux. For more focused procedures, brighter lights with around 45,000 lux to 65,000 lux are recommended.
Other factors you can consider to know if the headlight is right for you are the battery life and recharge/run time, design or style, and light consistency and uniformity.