Question about dental implements

Factual Questions
1

Went to the dentist, got 2 old fillings drilled out and replaced with new fillings. During the process, while my mouth was full of medical instruments, I had a couple questions about the tools the dentist was using. However, I didn’t actually ask the dentist, so here I am.

  1. Some thing that was maybe “clamped” on to my tooth? The dentist had to screw it, as if he was tightening it, at the beginning of the process, and then unscrew it to remove it when finished.

  2. Some electronic device that the assistant would hold over the not-yet-finished filling; it would beep once, then beep again, and then she would remove it. I feel like this was maybe softening (or hardening) the filling material so the dentist could then keep working? Also, while this device was operating, it appeared that maybe both the assistant and the dentist were intentionally looking away, as if it was unsafe to look at?

Thanks.

2

I suspect that the first device is a band that is placed around the tooth to prevent the filling material from leaking out into the surrounding area.
The second device is a UV curing light, that hardens the filling material. The dentists should have been wearing protective goggles, but they might look away anyway.

3

I believe beowulff has the answers right there. The uv light my guy uses has an orange shield that prevents any eye damage to the tech, but they can still see the area of application.

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4

Both the responses beowulff gave make total sense; I love this board.

Thanks.

5

Dentist here. beowulff and GaryM are correct.