Any dental professional who wears loupes knows that they’re holding a winning hand when it comes to clinical practice. Problems are easier to see and the correction can be performed with greater accuracy. Is that necessarily true? Well, yes and no.
It depends on whether or not the loupes you’ve invested in are the most suitable for you personally and for their intended use. It also depends on the
quality of the optics and whether or not they can be worn all day, without any
discomfort.
The right loupes, accompanied by the right light, will benefit the wearer and their patients from graduation (and often pre-graduation) to retirement. From helping to make more accurate diagnoses to making finer detailed work easier to attain. Wearing loupes can also help improve posture, alleviating
many of the problems associated with bending over patients during the day,
such as neck and back pain. There are plenty of options to choose from.
Most dental professionals are familiar with flip up (can be moved up and out of the way) and TTL (though the lens) designs. The latter are neater, lighter and more stylish, and you can achieve greater depth and width of field. However, to make a proper decision before making a purchase you really need an in-surgery demonstration with an expert who can offer pertinent advice and then take your bespoke measurements, facial geometry, working distance, and declination angle so that the perfect loupes can be manufactured to your specific requirements. And if you already wear glasses then your prescription can also be taken into account and built into your loupes and carrier lens.
Whatever style you decide on you will probably need a dedicated light source. Nowadays this is usually an LED light source which attaches to the spectacle frame and provides coaxial illumination, so whatever you’re looking at it’s never in shadow. While it makes a huge difference on the lower magnifications (2.5x - 2.8x) at higher magnifications it is essential. Recent trends have seen these lights and their battery packs getting smaller and smaller to the extent that now we have an option of all in one light and loupe unit with no cables or belt packs.
Important factors to bear in mind are resolution, established by the quality of the optical design and the use of precision lenses. As with most things you get what you pay for. Cheaper loupes made with inferior materials cannot deliver the highest quality image.
Magnification is the size of the image produced by the loupe compared to the
naked eye.
Different manufacturers offer a range of powers with the entry level generally
about 2.5x power, rising to in excess of 5x. Although you might think it’s better to have the highest magnification you can get, there is usually a compromise with width and depth of field, and resolution or clarity of image.
Field width is the maximum area that can be seen when viewed through the
loupes. New wearers in general find it is easier to adjust from the naked eye to the magnified image with a wider field of view.
Depth of field is the range of focus delivered by the loupe. When you lean
backwards, forwards or laterally while wearing the loupe you will find the magnified image will go in and out of focus, this range when the image is in
focus is the depth of field.
As the magnification power increases then the width and depth of field
decreases. The ranges involved will depend on the quality and system design of the optics.
There are essentially two types of optical system, the Galilean and the Prismatic. The Galilean loupes tend to be limited to 3.5x power or less, the image quality is good and they are the lowest in cost and weight. Higher magnification prismatic loupes, although generally having reduced field and depth of view, benefit from increased resolution.
So it’s pretty clear that you should be looking for the best combination of resolution, width and depth of field. Look for the back-up that can be relied on for the working life of the loupes as they’ll need servicing at some point. You might also want to upgrade in future years to higher magnification or
a change in prescription. Also look out for the best warranty options.
In the opinion of most experts the benefits of wearing the right loupes far outweigh the benefits of not wearing loupes at all. So what’s the big deal? You’ll see!