The big stressors in our day are obvious…the crown that doesn’t seat and you need to take a new impression, the little root tip you just can’t get out and you have to send the patient over to the oral surgeon…yes, these lead to big headaches at the end of the day. What we don’t always think about is all of the little stressors that just build up throughout the day. When it comes to flowable composite these little things include: • Bubbles in the material • Control over precise placement • Bending the tip to reach without kinking • Running out of material mid-procedure when it appears there’s plenty left • Waste as material oozes out of the syringe (which is caused by back pressure from bubbles in the syringe).
These little stressors add up to big headaches by the end of a busy day.
Here at the Dental Advisor, we recently received 3M™ Filtek™ Supreme Flowable Restorative (3M). According to the manufacturer, this material is their same great Filtek™ Supreme Ultra Flowable, now packaged with a new name and in a new unique dispenser. 3M’s Filtek™ Bulk Fill Flowable Restorative will also be available in this new delivery system.
Features include: • Low viscosity • 9 Shades offered that are designed to correspond with Filtek™ Supreme Ultra Universal Restorative and Filtek™ Universal Restorative • Ergonomic design that is easy to hold and inject • Excellent adaptation, polish retention, and wear resistance • Lots of changes to the syringe design (see images below)
New syringe design
Syringe in medium sized hand
Blue syringe barrel that indicates remaining material in syringe
Easy to see what shade it is by large clear label
Wide, triangular finger plate for easy holding and injecting
Viscosity of material going into deep grooves
Placing material in deep grooves
Viscosity/Consistency
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – Many of our Editorial Board members are already using a 3M flowable product and are excited for this product. – The little details put into this new design should help take away big headaches in our day, like bubbles and not quite being able to bend the cannula where you want for a precise placement of material. – Assistants on our board love the big clearly marked shade label on the bottom of the syringe… no getting out your reading glasses to find the right shade! – The viscosity seems a little high for sealants in some of the boards opinion, but likely ideal for a class III or class V… we cannot wait to see what the evaluators have to say!
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for our clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
There is a growing trend in the dental materials world, especially in cementation, and that trend is making products more versatile. We recently received Visalys CemCore (Kettenbach Dental) here at the Dental Advisor. Visalys CemCore is BOTH a dual-curing adhesive cement and core-buildup material. Talk about versatile… is this the future of dental materials?
What would this mean to your practice? It means you only need to stock one material for cementing posts, placing cores, and cementing your final restorations! According to the manufacturer this material will adhere to any substrate including :
This material is available in five shades: Bleach, Universal, Translucent, Dark, and Opaque (see images below). All shades have matching try-in pastes (see image below).
Visalys CemCore is an adhesive cement. This means there is a separate bonding step. This system includes a tooth primer as well as a restorative primer that uses their Active-Connect-Technology. Their primers are extremely easy to use, only requiring a 20 second rub and drying with air. No need to light cure.
Visalys CemCore Paste with regular and small tip
Visalys CemCore Paste with Tooth Primer and Restorative Primer
Five Shades of Visalys CemCore
Viscosity and opacity of bleach shade
Viscosity and opacity of A2 shade
All shades have matching try-in pastes
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – Although etching is only absolutely indicated when cementing to enamel, can use any kind of etching technique with this product. Dr. Sabiha Bunek (CEO of Dental Advisor) was excited to hear this, as she prefers to total etch whenever possible. – Some of our board members are self-admittedly, notorious “mix and matchers” with bonding agents. The chemistry in this product does not allow trading out the tooth primer, but provides the strong bond strengths. Will they love the tooth primer as well as their current bonding agents? We can’t wait to find out! – We liked the shade selection. – Thin mixing tip allows for precise placement. – The editorial board was abuzz about the versatility of this product, and were all excited to take it back to their offices to evaluate!
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for our clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
In my public health clinic, I did some extremely large composite restorations. You know those ones… they really need a crown but your only options are to attempt the world’s largest composite to hold onto it as long as possible or extraction. With this comes the challenge of finishing and polishing such a large restoration. It was not uncommon for my assistants to wander off as I was polishing because they knew my 4 or 5 part polishing regimen was going to take me a while to get the smoothness to the patient’s tongue as well as the shine I was looking for. Coffee break time may be cut short now with this new polishing system!
Here at the Dental Advisorwe recently received Composite Singles(Meisinger USA). According to the manufacturer these single-use polishers produce a brilliant luster on all composite materials with a unique new shape, the “squid” shape (see below). These polishers are a two-step system with a pre-polish and high shine.
Composite Singles Intro. Kit with pre-polish and high-shine
Four shapes of composite singles
Pre-polisher on composite
Easy marginal ridge access
I easily removed scratches with pre-polisher
Unique “squid” shape in high shine polisher
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – Wonderful high shine! – The pre-polisher will clear out any and all scratches in your composite, but you can wipe out your anatomy if you over-polish. – The new squid shape is very unique and I found it nice around cusps especially… I can’t wait to see what the evaluators thought it was best used for!
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for our clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
As a right handed operator, I never look forward to seeing the dreaded #15B or even worse… #16B! When I walk in the room, my assistant has every kind of cheek retraction device humanly possible laid out in a row on the top of the mobile cart and is pumping blood into her arm, preparing to battle the cheek. The mirror just cannot ever seem to retract enough; especially when the cheek just flops around the mirror handle.
We recently received the Mirror Buddy (Master Dental Inc.) here at the Dental Advisor. We love these kind of products. A dentist who deals with our challenges day in and day out invented a great solution! According to the manufacturer Mirror Buddy is “An autoclavable mirror cushion redefined”. The Mirror Buddy is made of highly transparent silicone that allows you improved viewing and access to the the mouth. Designed for maximum comfort for your patients.
Highly transparent medical grade silicone
Provides improved viewing area
Allows improved access to the mouth
Gentle on oral commissures when retracted
Fits standard size cone docket dental mirrors
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – When I put this in the hands of one of Dr. Bunek’s hygienists she would not give it up! She kept calling everyone over to see how well she could retract the cheek with it. – Extends your retraction area when dealing with a large tongue as well as cheeks. – Very comfortable to our patient. – A little tricky to get on the mirror handle at first, but the nice part is that it is autoclavable, so you do not have to take it off. – We wonder how long the silicone will be able to last after repeated autoclaving.
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for a possible clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
Administering palatal anesthesia is a necessary evil that I always dread. As you can imagine, working in public health means I have done a lot of maxillary extractions. Knowing I have to give that palatal anesthesia always makes the sweat start beading before we even get started. I want to make my patients comfortable, but my arsenal of tips and tricks for making palatal anesthesia less painful has never been very extensive or effective.
At Dental Advisor, we recently received the Palatal Anesthesia Device (Master Dental Inc.). This instrument uses the principle of applying pressure to the area, that we have all done with a mirror handle, but makes it more effective. According to the manufacturer the Palatal Anesthesia Device uses the principles of pressure anesthesia and the “gate control theory of pain” to alleviate the pain associated with a palatal injection. The stimulation of the surface tactile receptors by the instrument “opens the gate” of the pain-transmitting fibers and interrupts their transmission to the brain. Therefore, the pain associated with the initial needle penetration is greatly reduced.
The “C” shape allows for targeted pressure right at the injection site
The targeted pressure blanches the injection site very effectively
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – Great idea! – Takes a proven method for pain reduction and makes it more efficient. – It takes very little pressure with this instrument to get the tissue to blanch. – Not just a good instrument to have on hand for an office that does a lot of palatal anesthesia but maybe even better for the offices that do it rarely and have not perfected a technique for pain reduction during palatal anesthesia. – We want to test this to see how effective it is… is it worth another instrument on my tray?
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for a possible clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
Suction tips just don’t always fit where you want them. Even those little surgical ones. Especially when you are just trying to keep that sulcular fluid or a bit of heme out of an area and you end up having to rinse it out into the big suction.
Recently we received the Transcodent Luer Lock Handpiece (Sulzer) here at the Dental Advisor. According to the manufacturer, this suction, when combined with the suction needles, is used for precise evacuation in difficult areas with maximal field of view. It can also be used for passive irrigation techniques such as root canal treatments. It is made of stainless steel, is autoclavable, and fits on the saliva ejector evacuation hose. It has four different size suction needles that thread onto the handpiece and are disposable.
Transcodent attached to small evacuation line
Transcodent in unit
Tips are bendable for maximum reach-ability
Transcodent being used for precise suctioning
Just the Transcodent Leur Lock Handpiece without a tip
With a suction needle
The four size suction needles
Transcodent with all four size suction needles
The diameters of all four suction needles
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – We love the option of 4 different diameter tips. – Looks like it could potentially be great for endo, but would all the sodium hypochlorite affect the lumen of the stainless steel handpiece? – This is one of those products that, as an assistant, I would want to keep in the top drawer of my mobile cart. It is one of those things you don’t need every day, but when when the situation is just right it could be a life saver to be able to whip out fast. – I originally thought that this could be great for perio surgery, but I wonder if even the largest diameter suction needle is not too small… tissue could clog the little tips pretty quickly but then again you could just grab another one. Any thought out there? (add a comment below) – Dr. Molinari, if you are out in California reading this what do you think about infection control of this product? I am thinking that with the right pipe cleaner you are golden. Would you agree? My sample did not come with a pipe cleaner but it would certainly be a must.
What do our Clinical Evaluators and their patients think about this product once it’s used in their offices? Look for a possible clinical evaluation in an upcoming issue!
