US 11,589,971 B2 · Dental curing light and method

Abstract

The specification discloses a dental curing light including 1) a light engine, 2) a coaxially aligned, camera-based viewing system, and 3) a control system providing a variety of safety features and simplified, operator-friendly operation. The camera's field of view (FOV) is coaxial with the centerline of the curing beam of the light engine. The curing light includes a multi-planar dichroic mirror (MDM) providing viewing and light beam direction aligned with the target. The MDM provide multiple images to the camera from different angles. The camera provides real-time measurement of light intensity reflected back from the targeted surface. Using the multiple image portions reflected by the multi-planar dichroic mirror, the control system computes the distance between the curing light and the target. The reflected intensity and the calculated distance enable the control system to compute a light engine irradiance to achieve a desired irradiance at the targeted surface.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A dental curing light for curing a dental composite within a tooth, the dental curing light comprising:

a light source adapted to direct light onto the dental composite within the tooth;
a vision system adapted to acquire an image of the dental composite within the tooth, the image including multiple image portions acquired from different angles;
and
a control system operatively coupled to the light source and to the vision system, the control system adapted to determine a distance between the light source and the dental composite as a function of the multiple image portions, the control system further adapted to control the light source as a function of the determined distance.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Dental curing light and method

Life of this patent

Dental curing light and method

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11