Each type of dental light is designed for a specific purpose—broad illumination or focused task lighting—and each has its own positives and negatives. Small, directional light sources provide a narrow beam that can easily be focused on the target; however, this type of light creates harsh contrast and dark shadows on adjacent surfaces. Larger light sources do the best job of reducing glare and dark shadows, but they may need to be adjusted more frequently on areas that are difficult to access.

An overhead LED dental light offers the highest degree of uniform light, which illuminates the mouth with minimal shadowing. A-dec dental lights, for example, are engineered with a “stadium lighting” design that shines light from eight different directions. If one or two of these directions are blocked by an obstruction, the others cover for it. The result is exceptional illumination of the entire oral cavity with reduced eye fatigue.

In contrast, handpiece lighting creates a much smaller area of illumination, positioned to light the specific area being treated as the doctor’s hand moves. Because the light source is pointed directly at the surface being treated, handpiece lighting is considered task lighting.

Like lighted dental handpieces, headlights also offer directional task lighting. This single-point “spot lighting” creates a small, high contrast field of view. A headlight consistently illuminates exactly what the doctor is looking at, because it shines on a parallel path to the doctor’s line of vision.

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