Patent ID: 7314610

Claim:
A method of performing a dental procedure, the method comprising: applying a dental composition to a tooth, the dental composition being comprised of at least one polymerizable resin and at least one anti-stokes up converter, the anti-stokes up converter being adapted so as to convert long wavelength JR-light into shorter wavelength visible light, the anti-stokes up converter being comprised of at least one up converter host and at least one of an activator or activator couple, the dental composition blending with the tooth in the absence of being irradiated with IR-light; and wherein the at least one up converter host is selected from the group consisting of sodium yttrium fluorides, lanthanum fluorides, lanthanum oxysulfides, yttrium oxysulfides, yttrium fluorides, yttrium gallates, yttrium aluminum garnets, gadolinium fluorides, barium yttrium fluorides, and gadolinium oxysulfides, and the at least one activator is selected from the group consisting of ytterbium, erbium, holmium, terbium, and thulium, and the at least one activator couple is selected from the group consisting of ytterbium:erbium, ytterbium:thulium, ytterbium:terbium, and ytterbium:holmium, exposing the dental composition to JR-light to effect a reversible change in the color of the dental composition in order for the dental composition to temporarily visually contrast with the tooth.