Sammanfattning
A study was performed to assess 13 different eye protection
filters, glasses and shields, intended for use
with dental material light curing procedures as a follow-
up to a similar investigation in 2006. To assess
the safety and efficiency, spectra of curing lamps and
filters were measured using a spectroradiometric instrument
and integrating sphere. Based on international
guidelines, from the International Commission
on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection for blue
light exposure to the eyes, the "aximum permissible
exposure time" (tmax) for the protection filters
were calculated with high and low safety margins.
The high safety margin risk estimation was based
on transmission spectra of the filters, whereas the
estimation for accepting a lower safety margin was
based on the overlap between emission spectra of
several different curing lamps with known emission
and the transmission spectra of the filters. According
to the high safety estimations, 7 of 13 products
had acceptable filtering qualities. Low safety
estimations increased the number of acceptable
filters to 10. Eye hazards and associated diseases
suggested to be induced by UV radiation and/or
blue light were discussed. UV and blue light could
cause acute eye hazards, whereas increasing evidence
suggests that blue light contributes to chronic
diseases, such as cataracts and age-related macular
degeneration. The use of eye protection with
adequately low transmission properties (0,1 %) in
the relevant wavelength range (390-525 nm) will
eliminate or greatly reduce the risk of eye hazards
when light curing dental materials.