Top 10 Questions and Answers About LED Headlights

ErgoPractice News – Mar/Apr 2024
By Jin Chang PhD
jchang@surgitel.com
Summary
When making a purchase, particularly one that can have a positive impact on your health and well-being, it’s only natural to have questions. To assist you in making informed decisions, we’ve compiled a list of 10 questions and our responses. However, we understand that each person’s needs and concerns are unique. If you find yourself with additional questions that haven’t been covered in this month’s issue of ErgoPractice News, feel free to reach out to your local representative. To learn who your local rep is, click here, or to reach out to your international distributor, click here. Your health and satisfaction are our top priorities, and we’re here to ensure you make a confident and well-informed LED headlight choice.
Question #1
What light optic should I choose? The High Intensity Mini optic or Wide Beam Micro optic?
Answer: If you require a brighter light, the Mini optic is the optimal choice. However, if you prioritize a light that covers your field of view, the Micro optic would be the preferred option. It’s important to consider your magnification level as well. For magnifications of 5.5x and higher, it’s recommended to opt for the Mini optic to ensure full coverage of your field of view. It should also be noted that for those in the surgical field that the Mini optic is ideal since tissue absorbs the light. Regardless of your choice, most SurgiTel LED lights come with a brightness control, allowing you to adjust the intensity of the light to your preference. This ensures flexibility and customization according to your specific requirements.
Question #2
What color temperature light is best for my practice?
Answer: When it comes to dental clinicians, a neutral or warm light is best for the low blue light emissions. If you are unaware of the blue light hazard and the long-term damage it may have on your eyes, please read Dr. Richard Price’s recently published study The Potential ‘Blue Light Hazard’ from LED Headlamps. The abstract may be accessed here.
Contrary to dental, where blue light can be harmful, blue light is helpful for surgical procedures. Cool LED lights will enhance the image of veins and nerves. Because red tissues absorb most of the blue light, surgeons face less of a blue light hazard. SurgiTel recently released two new Surgical LED headlights, click here to learn more about them. Contrast enhancement filters are offered to further optimize the visualization of critical elements. By employing these filters, medical professionals can achieve a clearer and more detailed view of veins beneath the skin’s surface (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Effect of contrast enhancement filter.
Question #3
Why is low blue light so important for dentistry?
Answer: Exposure to blue light can have both short- and long-term effects¹ on health and well-being, such as disruption of sleep, eyestrain (which can also present as headaches, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pain) dry eyes and fatigue. On the other end of the spectrum are more troubling effects such as retina damage in the form of phototoxicity, apoptosis (cell death), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and a heightened risk of certain cancers² (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

Figure 2: Effect of blue light on retina cells.3

Figure 3: Visual Effect of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).
Question #4
How can I evaluate my current LED light to measure the coolness?
Answer: It is very difficult to estimate the degree of coolness of the LED beam you are using. The best way is to compare the beam of your current LED headlight with a true color neutral LED headlight which have a balanced color spectrum and are safest to the eyes (Figure 4). The SurgiTel true color neutral LED light can be used as the reference light.

Figure 4: Example images under the illumination of SurgiTel Neutral LED light and the illumination of LumaDent LED light.
Question #5
What should the requirements be for dental illumination?
Answer: In dental illumination, LED headlights should fulfill two fundamental criteria. Firstly, they should accurately portray the colors of objects, including teeth and tissues, to facilitate precise diagnosis and treatment. Secondly, they should effectively mitigate the risk of blue light hazard to ensure the safety and well-being of both clinicians and patients.
Question #6