The Dental Loupe Light World is my oyster – but which one should I choose???

The light bulb recently went out on my wonderful yet antiquated dental loupe light on Friday - and it was like - for a moment - all the light went out in the dental world. I know...I exaggerate - but loupes are the special glasses many health professionals use with the magnification lenses attached or built in. They are wonderful and allow me to have better posture, and most importantly, they help me SEE!!! There is an attachment that you can place on these loupes, a little light that makes us look like that terrible bottom dweller fish in the movie Finding Nemo, and this helps us see even more – and once you have it, let’s just say that you don’t want to go back.  And so was created my dilemma. 

As a background, I bought the light for my loupes over 2 years ago. I carry it its own special aluminum case with so much care that it must have been like i was carrying the huge diamond in the movie Snatch. It is the kind of light where I have the light attached to my loupes, and attached to that is a long LONG wire, and then I plug the wire into an attached wall unit. I have had many of an almost whiplash moment when jumping from room to room. The long chord has almost tripped me, and it is very heavy – nowadays where you have much lighter, battery operated-fit-in-your-pocket LED light sources. So I have drooled over many a lighter light sources for some time, but being a newer graduate, financially every little bit helps that you don’t have to spend. And so is it in many facets of life. SO it is the mentality of: I have one already, why do I need another, even though I WANT one badly?? BUT you can imagine my despair when I heard the light make it’s initial noise and then heard the familiar flicker, and then…darkness.

So after that initial shock, I thought, no problem. I would simply ask for help in ordering another lightbulb that I would pay back thinking it wouldn’t be more than a $100 or so, and it cost over $500!!! AGH!!! I could buy another entire LIGHT for just a little more.  I have learned watching all of my employers order supplies, and balance supply budgets, and I know that supplies (aka: overhead) are an amazing but necessary expense.

But I feel I need this particular overhead to see better, to do the best job I can. But, I read Product reviews, and I have gone to conventions but still I don’t know which one is best!! 

Now the dental loupe light world is my oyster.  SO…at the end of that story…I guess the news is that I am now in the market for a new loupe light.  Until then I’m at the mercy of the angle I have the patient chair at, the ability for the patient to open (hopefully it is like the dental reach commercial - 180 degrees), the strength of the dental chair light, and the amount of sun shining on the dental chair (please pray for me to let it be sunny for the next few weeks). HELP!!

image courtesy of: traderscity.com