Critical appraisal: Contemporary photocuring issues, Part II

Surprisingly, many clinicians fail to realize that the quality of their direct, tooth-colored restorations is directly related to the extent to which the polymer is cured, and that the extent of cure relies heavily on the quality of photoinitiating systems. In this second of two “Critical Appraisal” articles, attention is drawn to issues related to polymerization shrinkage and preparation design, variation in light intensity output, and direction of composite shrinkage. Many references presented are classic in the field, having been published over a decade ago, but these are still relevant to everyday clinical dentistry.