| CPC A61C 19/004 (2013.01) [A61C 19/003 (2013.01)] | 15 Claims |
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1. A dental curing instrument for curing a target, the target including a restorative material that is curable in response to application of light energy, the dental curing instrument comprising:
a light source capable of outputting the light energy to cure the restorative material, the light source being controllable to vary the light energy being output;
a light sensor for sensing a light energy characteristic;
an optical feedback path operably coupled to the light sensor, the optical feedback path being disposed to channel light reflected back from the target to the light sensor, wherein the light sensor is configured to sense the light energy characteristic with respect to the light reflected back from the target;
a controller operably coupled to the light sensor and the light source, the controller configured to vary, based on the light energy characteristic sensed by the light sensor, an operating characteristic of the light source to affect the light energy being output from the light source;
wherein the controller is configured to iteratively calculate a total amount of energy delivered to the target based on the sensed light energy characteristic; and
wherein the controller is configured to adjust the operating characteristic based on the calculated total amount of light energy.
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