Tips for Using the Kerr Turbo

The Kerr Dental Optilux 501 unit is a curing unit that uses visible light to cure, or harden, polymer material. Dental polymers are used in cosmetic and restorative dentistry. The unit comes with an 8 mm turbo+ curved light guide and an 11 mm curved light guide. Kerr claims that the unit will cure every available light-curable dental material.

Switching the Unit On and Off

• To switch the unit on, first turn the master switch S1 to the "I" position. Then wait for five seconds so that the control system can activate. During this time, the display will read "E 0" to indicate the elapsed lamp time. This figure will advance for every hour that you use the unit, up to "E99," which indicates ninety-nine hours of use.

  After five seconds the display will read "CCC" and the blue indicator will light up next to "C" on the keypad to indicate that the unit is in Continuous Curing Cycle mode. You can now begin to use the unit. To switch the unit off, first allow the fan to complete the cooling cycle. Then turn the master switch to the "O" position.

Continuous Curing Cycle

• In Continuous Curing Cycle mode (CCC), the intensity of the light output is more than 850 milliwatts per square centimeter. Press the handpiece trigger to activate the curing lamp and you will notice that the display changes to "0." As you use the curing lamp, the display will advance to indicate the length of the curing cycle in seconds. The maximum curing cycle is 999 seconds. You can stop the curing cycle at any time by pressing the handpiece trigger again. The display automatically resets itself when the cooling fan stops or if you begin a new curing cycle.

Standard Curing Cycles

• Choose one of four standard curing cycles using the keypad. Press one of the keys labeled 10, 20, 30 or 40 to choose a curing cycle of that length in seconds. At the end of your chosen cycle, the display will stop advancing.

Ramp Curing Cycle

• Press the "R" key to choose the 20-second long, ramp curing cycle. You will see that the display reads "10." This is not an error. The ramp curing cycle allows you to slow cure at first, as the intensity of the light output is initially 100 milliwatts per square centimeter. When you press the handpiece trigger, the display resets to "0" and begins advancing to "20," which indicates the end of the cycle. The intensity of the light output rises to 1,000 milliwatts per square centimeter in the first 10 seconds of the cycle and remains at that intensity for the rest of the cycle.