These days, strategic, pin-pointed, and successful practice management has become as high a priority as providing quality, top-of-line patient care. That means making every second count without cutting any corners. Ultradent’s multi-award-winning curing light, VALO®, with its powerful 3-second cure feature, take both patient care and super-keen practice management to new heights, and has the numbers to prove it.

In an interview years ago when low-intensity lights were more popular, Dr. Gordon Christensen estimated that a typical dental practice can save over $26,000 per year by switching from a low-intensity light to a high-intensity light like VALO. Some dentists are still using slower lights.¹

VALO can provide a complete, uniform cure in just three short seconds via its Xtra Power mode, in contrast to traditional curing lights which require a minimum 10–20 second curing time, on average. However, in addition to VALO’s 3-second cure feature, VALO also offers Standard Power mode—a 10-second cure that provides 1000mW/cm2, and a 4-second, High Power curing mode which provides 1400mW/cm2 for tacking.

How is it that VALO is able to deliver so much power in so little time?

First, the VALO’s low profile head allows for easy and direct access to any restoration site, even in smaller mouths. And direct access means that the light can reach all aspects of the preparation, so you know that you are getting a uniform cure with ample energy.

VALO’s optimally collimated beam ensures that VALO maintains its power density and cures uniformly over a range of surfaces and working distances. In fact, VALO delivers the energy needed to polymerize any resin up to 10 mm from the restoration site. This unparalleled accessibility, combined with VALO’s powerful curing options (standard power for a 10-second cure, high power for a 8-second cure, and Xtra power for a 3-second cure), allows for maximum efficiency and power combined—which contributes greatly to the practice savings Dr. Christensen mentioned, without compromising on the quality of the cure.

Even if the clinician chooses to cure a restoration using standard power mode, VALO’s unique, intensely collimated beam allows for 65% of the energy of the light to reach the preparation from 10 mm away. Compare this with similar lights on the market that, on average, deliver only 25% of the light energy to the preparation when measured at the same distance. With its collimated beam, VALO promises a high-quality result, regardless of curing mode.² 

VALO is also designed to give a complete cure, no matter the proprietary material used in the composite. Dr. John Flucke had this to say about Ultradent’s award-winning curing light: “VALO is one of the few curing devices on the market that is ‘broadband,’ meaning that it sets all light-activated materials. Many curing lights have a range of 450–470 nanometers, which is fine for camphorquinone but not for other proprietary photoinitiators. The VALO provides light in the spectrum of 395–480 nanometers, which allows it to cure all materials.”

Another way that investing in VALO can save clinicians valuable dollars is thanks to its virtual indestructibility—allowing the clinician to use it year after year without the need for a replacement, unlike so many other fragile and easily breakable lights on the market today. 

Dr. Flucke says, “VALO is milled out of a solid piece of aerospace-grade aluminum. It is designed to withstand the rigors of day-to-day use, including being dropped. Despite our best efforts, we’ve never managed to break one!” He continues, “The cordless unit also uses batteries that are nonproprietary. This means you can buy new batteries in lots of places. It also comes with a separate charger and a spare set of batteries so that you are never without a charge.” 

Dr. Gordon Christensen and Dr. John Flucke seem to agree: VALO makes good business sense for a dental practice. Investing in VALO saves valuable dollars ($26,000 of them!). Who knew that three seconds could be worth so much?

¹ Ask Dr. Christensen. Dental Economics. Retrieved Dec. 6, 2013. 

² http://blog.denticle.com/2015/10/the-advantages-of-ultradent-valo-curing.html​