A small, lightweight, high intensity illumination assembly (20) for use in dental and medical applications. The illumination assembly (20) includes attachment means (30) for removable attachment to headgear such as eyeglasses (302), face shields, or headbands, and lenses, loupes, and binoculars (304) associated with such headgear. The illumination assembly (20) is able to achieve extremely light weight by using only a single optical element (24) therein, e.g., an aspheric condensing lens, binary optical element, or holographic optical means, and by piping illumination to the optical element (24) from a remote light source by use of a flexible light guide (28), e.g., a fiberoptic bundle.