Selecting the right fit in dentistry care tools

Benita Altier, LVT, VTS (Dentistry), owner of Pawsitive Dental Education, provides professional dental instruction and consultation to veterinary practices and conferences, both in the US and internationals. Altier is president-elect for the Arizona Veterinary Technician Association as well as a past president for the Academy of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

Altier presented a continuing education (CE) session about lighting, magnification and seating, during the 2025 Fetch dvm360 Conference in Long Beach, California. In a dvm360 interview, she discussed key points of this CE session including selecting lighting and magnification tools such as loupes that best fit the individual needs of the care provider. This video is a portion of the interview.

The following is a transcript, lightly edited for clarity:

Benita Altier, LVT, VTS (Dentistry): You can't necessarily buy something just off the shelf that's sort of like one-size-fits-all, or even something that's infinitely adjustable that could potentially make it so multiple people could use the same pair of loupes. If you really want to do this profession for a long period of time and really be comfortable, and not actually cause more injury on top of injury, I would definitely recommend exploring the option of customized loupes and lights, because the manufacturer actually creates them based on your pupillary distance, also how your torso height is, and your table height and your working distance. So that way they're adjusted specifically for what you need them to be. Usually the ones that are customized can have your prescription lenses in there.

So it really is going to be your happy place, so to speak, if you have well-fitting loupes and lights that actually have the correct prescription in them, or magnification, or whatever is going to be what you need. The other thing is, usually the ones that are higher end and more customized are going to be lighter weight as well, and the lighting is going to be a lot safer, better quality lighting too.

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To view additional coverage of the Fetch Long Beach conference from the dvm360 content team, visit the event’s dedicated news page: https://www.dvm360.com/conference/fetch-long-beach