Dental articles including at least one optical surface formed of a
multilayer optical film including layers of at least one strain-induced
birefringent material are disclosed. The multilayer optical films
included in the dental articles is preferably post-formed into desired
non-planar shapes in manners that result in some deformation of the
optical stack of the multilayer optical films. A variety of dental
implements can be constructed with multilayer optical film including
dental mirrors, light guides for use in connection with photo-curing
dental materials, and matrix bands for use in molding photo-curing dental
restoratives.