# Dental headlamp



## Tobes (Jan 9, 2007)

hey guys - im a new member, not that well versed in lighting terms. im a dental student looking to build a headlamp to use while working. the state of the art right now is 2200 footcandles, but it doesnt say at what distance. i will probably be working at a distance of approximately 3 feet with a viewing angle of about 4 square inches and i purchased a light that said it was 1000 footcandles. could anyone help me with what kind of footcandle rating that would be at 3 feet?

thanks so much.


----------



## greenLED (Jan 9, 2007)

Welcome to CPF, Tobes. Be aware that DIY LED sources may not be color calibrated and this could be problematic for proper diagnosis (bro's a dentist, that's why I know).

Other than that, check out the Custom and Modified sections for loads of info.


----------



## Tobes (Jan 9, 2007)

thanks a lot. great alias, by the way. props to oa. . .


----------



## ddslight (Jan 10, 2007)

I just built one out of a Fenix P1. It will cure composites if held close to them but not at 18 inch working distance. I took the head of it and casted a new body out of silver. Ran an external battery pack to a couple of AA's and it works great. I still need to clean up the mount though, it is still just a little half assed. Total I think I have about 70 bucks into it. Much cheaper than an Orascoptic or DFV. I get about 3 hours on the 2 AA's. I think with a new Cree light you should be able to get around 6 or 7 hours, that would be sweet. I will get some pics after I get out of Endo today and post them.


----------



## TedTheLed (Jan 10, 2007)

my dentist built led's into that rubber thing they shove down your throat (I mean place in your oral cavity - watchamacallit?) -- so it lights up your mouth from inside..!


----------



## TMorita (Jan 10, 2007)

I don't know about where you live, but where I live (California) the dentists are required to disinfect their entire dental examination room after each visit, and they're required to autoclave their instruments, I believe.

That's why dental equipment is so expensive...it needs to be autoclavable.

Toshi


----------



## TedTheLed (Jan 10, 2007)

maybe it is autoclavable with heat -- if the leds are embedded -- or else maybe he uses a chemical-clave -- I just called him but he 
's out of town till Monday..


----------



## TedTheLed (Jan 10, 2007)

found it! ahh -- I see, it uses an LED light source now -- but the light in the mouth is conducted by optics;

http://www.dentalcompare.com/review.asp?rid=18


----------



## ddslight (Jan 10, 2007)

TedTheLed said:


> found it! ahh -- I see, it uses an LED light source now -- but the light in the mouth is conducted by optics;
> 
> http://www.dentalcompare.com/review.asp?rid=18




The Isolites are way cool. They don't only provide gobs of light but are hooked up to suction and suck out the gobs of stuff. They also provide for a nice dry work field so placing composites and root canals are much easier to isolate. I don't think that headlamps would need to be sterilized as they are attached to the dentist's loupes which most aren't even submersible and I have never even seen a dentist stick 800-1500 dollar glasses in the autoclave.
Also, there is no reason that they can't be disinfected the same as the chair or overhead light. I think the only reason why dental companies charge $1000 is because they can and dentists pay it. The light really does make a huge difference and is well worth the time and energy into making one.


----------



## ddslight (Jan 10, 2007)

Here is a pic of the light that I made. 
http://upload5.postimage.org/184869/photo_hosting.html


----------



## SilverFox (Jan 11, 2007)

Hello Tobes,

Welcome to CPF.

To answer your original question, 2200 foot candles comes from measuring at 1 foot. At 3 feet, it will drop off to around 245 foot candles.

Tom


----------



## 12Johnny (Aug 10, 2008)

ddslight said:


> Here is a pic of the light that I made.
> http://upload5.postimage.org/184869/photo_hosting.html


 
Looks great!


----------



## half-watt (Aug 11, 2008)

perhaps i'm wrong, and someone please correct me if you feel that i am, i wouldn't want any dentist or medical practitioner examining me w/a bright LED light source.

now, inside my mouth is one thing, and that sounds like an excellent idea - light everything inside my buccal cavity.

however, illuminating me w/such bright light fr/the outside i would NOT appreciate much. 

am i to keep my eyes closed the entire time? do i get to wear one of those blind folds that some people who work 3rd shift and sleep during the day often wear while sleeping? that would satisfy me, perhaps?

i've read that the energy fr/even a single white 5mm LED light at close range is sufficient to cause permanent retinal scarring if exposed for a sufficient period of time. what that period of time is, i don't have the slightest idea. does anyone else know if this is true? i'd like to see more authoritative sources for (or against) what i've read. 

having been influenced by my reading, i've mentioned this "fact" [pseudo-factoid perhaps???] to my Vet and gave her a couple of much dimmer 3V incandescent lights for examing my dogs (and others' animals) eyes. why she doesn't use a standard medical light source, like my wife uses, i don't know.

now, admittedly, an eye exam, however brief, is a quite different than examining the inside of one's mouth. 

however, anyone who have had their eyes flashed, however, briefly, at close range by a newer 5mm white LED knows firsthand the affect it temporarily has on one's vision.

it is thought that general exposure to UV wavelength light fr/the sun is one cause of cataracts later on in life. so, regarding any UV wavelength that is produced by the LED, will it also have any effect on cataract development later on in life?

personally, in our litigious society, unless there is ample scientific evidence from a carefully controlled study or two, with no dissenting studies, i naively wouldn't recommend that a dentist use an LED light except one that is placed inside the mouth. best check w/one's attorney on this point.

my two shekels.


----------



## Offroad'Bent (Aug 13, 2008)

Peter Munz made a very nice little LED loupe light, which I think he plans to sell. He's on Candlepower- search the DIY forum.

I made up one with Fred Pilon's help, an SSC P4 with a 700ma driver that runs on a pocket-pack of 8 AA Eneloops with a waterproof switch from Batteryspace. It's smaller and lighter than almost anything out there, except for Peter's light.

I'm very happy with it. I'll see if I can post an image on my website.

Prior to that, I used a Princeton Tec Apex which I modded with a P4. It's waterproof, so it could survive disinfection.

As for light in the patients' eyes, it is standard of care to place eye protection on all patients. I use pretty dark safety sunglasses instead of clear glasses.


----------



## Offroad'Bent (Aug 14, 2008)

Offroad'Bent said:


> Peter Munz made a very nice little LED loupe light, which I think he plans to sell. He's on Candlepower- search the DIY forum.
> 
> I made up one with Fred Pilon's help, an SSC P4 with a 700ma driver that runs on a pocket-pack of 8 AA Eneloops with a waterproof switch from Batteryspace. It's smaller and lighter than almost anything out there, except for Peter's light.
> 
> I'm very happy with it. I'll see if I can post an image on my website.



Here's a photo:


----------



## 5kids (Aug 22, 2008)

My dentist uses this one from sheervision.
http://www.sheervision.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2










He wears it with a battery pack and of course I asked him about it. He said he really likes it, however his only complaint was the color rendition when doing cosmetic shade matching. I mentioned to him about the new warm white LED's and I kind of lost him when I mentioned color temperature.


----------



## offroadcmpr (Aug 22, 2008)

I just went to the dentist yesterday for a cavity. The light that he used had a lens on it that was like a magnifying glass so that it put out a perfect circle so that you don't get any sidespill into your eyes. I know that PT made a light like that. It looked like it was just a 5mm or so, it was not very bright, but when you are only a foot away from the patients mouth you do not need a very bright light. The newer LEDs would be better than the 5mm just because of the color temp.

I think that a lower driven cree or something with the "magnifying lens" on it would be the best. Not too bright, no sidespill to annoy patients, and long battery life. But my dentist's light also can change color when he was doing something in my mouth. Not sure why, but he just flipped a switch and it happened. It turned a amper type color. Maybe it was like a fiber optic system where the bulb or LED is on his waist with the optic going up and coming out of the end where his head is. Of course I could be completely wrong.

Good luck and hopefully there are some real dentist that can put their advice in.


----------



## Tekstyle (Oct 26, 2008)

offroadcmpr said:


> I just went to the dentist yesterday for a cavity. The light that he used had a lens on it that was like a magnifying glass so that it put out a perfect circle so that you don't get any sidespill into your eyes. I know that PT made a light like that. It looked like it was just a 5mm or so, it was not very bright, but when you are only a foot away from the patients mouth you do not need a very bright light. The newer LEDs would be better than the 5mm just because of the color temp.
> 
> I think that a lower driven cree or something with the "magnifying lens" on it would be the best. Not too bright, no sidespill to annoy patients, and long battery life. But my dentist's light also can change color when he was doing something in my mouth. Not sure why, but he just flipped a switch and it happened. It turned a amper type color. Maybe it was like a fiber optic system where the bulb or LED is on his waist with the optic going up and coming out of the end where his head is. Of course I could be completely wrong.
> 
> Good luck and hopefully there are some real dentist that can put their advice in.




the amber color is to prevent the composite from curing, while still allowing him to see what's going on. I also need to build a loupe light because getting it through my school is going to run about 700-800 dollars :thumbsdow


----------



## boonsht (Oct 27, 2008)

Tekstyle said:


> the amber color is to prevent the composite from curing, while still allowing him to see what's going on. I also need to build a loupe light because getting it through my school is going to run about 700-800 dollars :thumbsdow



Can try something like what I did. You need to be a little handy to make this. (thanks Mike Scoles for the input!). I spent around $150 for this set up which includes the charger. Add $50 more if you think you'll mess up 

Uses a luxeon K2 star, 75 lumens with 700 ma buckpuck driver. I believe this is the right amount of light as too much would wash out the details of the mouth/teeth/etc. YMMV of course.















This is about 12 inches from the wall. The tint is vanilla white (warm) which imho is better than the bluish whitish tints other Dental lights are. The beam covers the patient's mouth with little side spill. You can always have the pt wear protective sunglasses. The practice I work in provides it.


----------



## Tekstyle (Oct 28, 2008)

boonsht said:


> Can try something like what I did. You need to be a little handy to make this. (thanks Mike Scoles for the input!). I spent around $150 for this set up which includes the charger. Add $50 more if you think you'll mess up
> 
> Uses a luxeon K2 star, 75 lumens with 700 ma buckpuck driver. I believe this is the right amount of light as too much would wash out the details of the mouth/teeth/etc. YMMV of course.
> 
> ...



Thanks boonsht! Can you share your knowledge on which housing and acrylic ball/reflector you used for your setup?


----------



## boonsht (Oct 28, 2008)

The housing is actually copper tubing that I cut myself. Some of the items I used:

LED: http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-k2-star-white-75-lumens-700ma-p-133.php?link_str=1431&id=2212

Lens: http://www.luxeonstar.com/l2-3Â°-spot-base-module-for-luxeon-k2-leds-p-318.php

BuckPuck: http://www.luxeonstar.com/buckpuck-700ma-dc-led-driver-with-leads-p-36.php

It really is quite a project. My suggestion is you join Dental Town and enter the forums under Magnification. Go to Loupes and there is a topic on "Making your glass mounted light source" by Mike Scoles. Go thru it and if you think you're willing to make your own, Go For IT! :thumbsup:

Extremely satisfying end result. I couldn't be happier!


----------



## Tekstyle (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks a lot! just what I was looking for!


----------



## Offroad'Bent (Oct 31, 2008)

Would you mind posting instructions for the housing here?
Sorry, but I went off Dental Town a while ago, and it might help some others too, including non-dental members.
I might be tempted to make up a second unit myself.

Thanks!



boonsht said:


> The housing is actually copper tubing that I cut myself. Some of the items I used:
> 
> LED: http://www.luxeonstar.com/luxeon-k2-star-white-75-lumens-700ma-p-133.php?link_str=1431&id=2212
> 
> ...


----------



## itch808 (Nov 6, 2008)

I'm also a dental student that has always been wondering this! The ludicrous prices some companies charge is ridiculous! At a recent vendor fair one company wanted $800+.

I would greatly appreciate any students or practicing dentists that would post up a plan, details, etc. to their light. How do you all manage to attach them to your loupes' frames?


----------



## Offroad'Bent (Nov 7, 2008)

itch808 said:


> I'm also a dental student that has always been wondering this! The ludicrous prices some companies charge is ridiculous! At a recent vendor fair one company wanted $800+.
> 
> I would greatly appreciate any students or practicing dentists that would post up a plan, details, etc. to their light. How do you all manage to attach them to your loupes' frames?



Fred Pilon made me up a nice LED housing, and he made a bracket that screwed into my Orascoptic TTL loupes. The whole thing was a lot less than the commercial units.

The only thing I'd improve is that the light is so small that it doesn't have the best beam- I've seen tighter beams from wider optics, giving effectively more brightness.

I used my modified PT Apex light in dentistry quite successfully, and it's tighter beam is brighter than my loupe light, but more cumbersome.


----------



## boonsht (Nov 7, 2008)

Offroad, for my Scoles dental light, I used a 3/4 to 1/2 copper tubing. I had to cut it the right height so that the LED star sits on the bottom ledge of it with the lens fitting on top. I used thermal adhesive to make sure it stays there. You'll have to trim the LED star to make it fit inside. I used a dremel.

The tricky part is mounting it. Since yours are TTL, you'll have to be creative with this part. Wish I could help you with that. Maybe if you had an extra bracket.

The way I mounted my light is using the flip handle that came with my loupes to make them flip up and down easier. This is what I used for the base. I found this light at a dollar store. Take a close look at the pic.






I cut the flashlight off, removed the base from the clip and epoxied it onto the lever. Before I did that, I fit the arm on the copper tubing with the dental LED light. At one point I thought the ball was a little loose so I spray painted it so it gives it more friction.

*This is Dr. Mike Scoles home made original project. Thanks again, Mike for putting this together. All the credit goes to this guy. Can't say enough about Mike, he's awesome!* 

A few things have changed, like instead of the canister a copper tubing was used. For the battery pack, I copied Mike and used a LiPo battery used for RC toys.

This is Mike's original post:

*Parts list for Surgical light *

 Luxeon LED #5027-WP14 $7 www.luxeonstar.com 

 Luxeon LED Driver #3023-D-N-700 $17 www.luxeonstar.com 

 3 degree lense #OPK2-1-003 $3 www.luxeonstar.com 

 2000mah batt lion battery pack $30 email [email protected] 
 Switch $3 local electronics store 
 Charge jack $2 
 Phono female plug $3 
 Phono cord $2 
 Plastic box $8 
 Lion Charger $20 see link below 
 https://01836cd.netsolstores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=825 
 Conductive Epoxy local electronics store 
 Blood sugar test strips container 

 The pictures are pretty self explanatory, I have addressed a few things that might not be intuitive below, other than that, its pretty simple. I got the bulk of the things I needed at an electronics store, try to find a place a little more heavy duty than radio shack. 

 When you’re at the electronics store, buy one of those small PC cooling fans. Plug a 9volt battery into it and a base where you can aim it. It provides enough of a breeze to keep solder fumes out of your face. I think it was $4. 

 When making the battery packs and the cord for the LED, always use a volt meter to make sure you are going in the right direction. 

 
I didn't use a potentiometer, if you want to adjust the light, you can buy a driver with one on the luxeon site.

Heat Sink-you must do a heat sink, or you will melt the lense. There are many different ways you can do this, I used a piece of aluminum and a quarter. This is the beauty of a DIY project, you get to be creative. I think finding a metal tube with just a bit smaller diameter than the base of the LED would be ideal, I will keep looking. Go to a good hardware store like Ace, they carry brass and aluminum tubing in small sizes. You just need a way for the base plate of the LED to send its heat elsewhere, as long as you use conductive glue, and a large enough chunk of metal, you will be in good shape. 

 Make sure you run the cord through the hole in the light case before you solder it onto the LED. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve soldered stuff prematurely… 

 You need a bracket to mount the LED to your glasses. If you have orascoptic loupes, you can order their bracket. If you have an old light source, you can adapt its bracket to this one. *If you have a sheervision LED light, I would keep the headlight, and just make new packs with the Luxeon driver.* This driver/battery combo is twice as bright as the sheervision set up with the NiMh battery pack. We have several different brands of loops in our office, (hygienists and assistants have them) tough to make a universal bracket. This is where the fun part is, you get to fabricate your own! A piece of thin metal bent at an angle and screwed to the middle part of the glasses would work fine. 

 You can use the sheervision black plastic boxes and just replace the driver and battery if you like, much easier than buying new boxes. I would suggest new plugs, the ones that come with the sheervision are fairly low quality, hence the light flickering. I posted pics of the conversion. 

 My only word of caution: DO NOT SKIP THE HEATSINK The LED creates a ton of heat, if you use a metal housing instead of plastic, and you use conductive epoxy to glue the base of the LED to the metal housing, you wouldn’t need it. The sheervision and orascoptic LED lights use the entire enclosure as the heatsink. You can’t do that with plastic. I left my light on for one hour straight and the quarter was too hot to touch, but the temperature remained constant after the first few minutes. I used an infrared heat gun to monitor the temperature throughout the hour. I may have a buddy machine some metal housings for me.  

 You guys are seeing my first try at the headlight. I already have a bunch of ideas to make it better. I wanted to get this out with the parts list so people could get working on it. I would like to find a better source for the lenses, I think one with a tighter focus would be better. I tried to make this as simple (ie crude) as possible so people could make it with easily obtainable items. I'll tweak on it in the future and make nicer ones. Please contribute improvements if you come up with any. My way may be the worst way to do this, other viewpoints are always welcome. I still think this would be a great project for a teenager with a little mechanical inclination...















































































Again like I said in my earlier post, the best thing would be heading over to dental town to see the whole thread if you could. Alot of info there that would be difficult to post here.


----------



## boonsht (Nov 7, 2008)

This is a closer look at how I mounted mine.












Hope this helps.


----------



## Offroad'Bent (Nov 8, 2008)

This helps a ton! I already have all the battery/driver/switch stuff complete,(Got a waterproof switch and cables from Batteryspace and a 700ma driver from LED Supply)

I definitely don't have a 3 degree lens- there wasn't one small enough to fit in the housing, so I'm mostly interested in the head. It looks far bigger and perhaps heavier than my light, but I still think I'll build one to see if I prefer the narrow beam.

Thanks for the details on the head construction. I think I'd stick with pennies rather than quarters for heat sink as the copper's important.
I'll make an aluminum bracket out the back that can screw directly into the loupes. They have 2 threaded holes for light attachment already.


----------



## Indeskys (May 25, 2010)

Hello fellow members,

Has anybody ever see a wirelss LED headlight? Is this even possible?? What are your thoughts?


----------



## eatkabab (Jun 29, 2010)

null 

.


----------



## pgjohnson2244 (Sep 18, 2011)

Indeskys said:


> Hello fellow members,
> 
> Has anybody ever see a wirelss LED headlight? Is this even possible?? What are your thoughts?


 
This is nearly a year too late, but there is a light/loupe called the Orascoptic Freedom. Last I've checked the setup is around $1600 and I thought it felt bulky. Great concept though.


----------



## Tarkus (Nov 5, 2011)

Hello everyone.

I'm new to the forum. I am a dental student who is looking to make a loupe light to save money and because I love making things. I have a little bit of experience with playing with circuits from when I was a kid, but for the most part am new to this. I have a 10mm white LED that I just bought from RadioShack with the following specs:

Intensity 28,500 mcd (typical)
Viewing angle: 10 degrees
FW current: 20mA
FW supply: 3.5V (typical) 4.0V (max)

I imagine I'll probably have to use a resistor if my power source is more than 4V. I am thinking about using one of those emergency cell phone battery chargers as a power source (5V and 1000mA,) but I'm not sure how I would connect it up to the light. Any tips? Is this a good power source? Thanks!

Ed


----------



## MikeAusC (Nov 6, 2011)

If you type "dental" in the search box at the top right you you will see the threads from -
- those who say it can't be done, 
- those who have promised great rewards if someone helped built dental lights - then disappeared forever
- those who have built dental lights and published their learnings


----------

