What honestly, personally keeps me from using rubber dam more often? The clamp… I hate clamping teeth! Maybe it is just me, but I always tend to get the gingiva. Then when you remove it, it looks like two little vampire teeth marks on their gingiva that I just know is going to be super sore later. Especially if I am just doing one tooth… now add the hassle of all the parts and pieces for one tooth. I know it’s the gold standard of isolation, but with the exception of endo, honestly… I usually go without.
Here at the Dental Advisor we recently received MiniDam (DMG). According to the manufacturer, the MiniDam is a latex-free gingival protection device that protects the proximal area during treatment – quickly and easily. The MiniDam’s design ensures that the working area is kept relatively dry while protecting the gingiva from the materials that could cause harm, such as etching gel. It can be placed in just a few seconds and stabilizes itself without the use of clamps, while still allowing open access and unobstructed view of the treatment area.
Placing MiniDam on model teeth
It took a few practice runs, but we got it on that fast!
Placing through contact areas
Final placement on model
Placed in my mouth (yes, I need some occlusals… anyone know a good dentist? LOL)
Another view of it on my teeth
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and Editorial Board? – Great idea! Now I have a solution for protecting the interproximal of one tooth. – You still have to obviously prevent saliva from coming up around the MiniDam so we used cotton rolls. – It was tough to get through my tight contacts so we flossed it down. – Definitely did not work on mandibular anteriors.
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!
Bur holders come in all shapes and sizes. Some are covered, some are labeled, some are magnitized…. I found the same frustrations with all of them as both a dental assistant and as a dentist…. sterilization. All the assistants out there are rolling their eyes and nodding right now, lol. You go through all the trouble of organizing the burs before you bag them and by time they are sterilized, have been put away, taken out and end up on your tray they have all fallen out of the holder and are laying in the bag! Enter… Bur Safe Bur Holders.
Here at the Dental Advisor we recently received Bur Safe Bur Holders (Practicon). It didn’t look like much when I first opened the package, but I saw the beauty of this device once I put an assortment of burs in this flexible little solid silicone holder. The burs stayed put and laid flat, perfect for sterilization pouches! According to the manufacturer these bur holders make bur storage, sterilization, and retrieval easier and safer than ever. They store and dispense burs horizontally, and burs are removed by pressing down on one end to rock the bur out. There are two designs to accommodate both FG and RA burs. You can attach multiple together and they come in a variety of colors.
Bur Safe bur holder
Holding Bur Safe
Burs stay secure when tipped
Bur Safe bur holders can be connected for procedures with more burs
Comes in a variety of colors so you can color code based on procedure
Burs stayed secure no matter how much we shook it around
Connecting bur holders together
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team? – Loving this design. – Easy to fill with burs and easy to attach multiple together. – Great design for sterilization. – How will the silicone hold up over hundreds of sterilization cycles? – Inconvenient that there are separate holders for FG and RA burs.
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!
Every year, as part of our accreditation for the public health clinic I worked at, we had to try safety needle systems. If we liked it we were supposed to adopt it and if we did not we had to report why we did not like and adopt it. We never adopted one. We just stuck with our little triangular re-capers. What was so wrong with the safety needle systems we tried? They were either a plastic disposable syringe that was not as sturdy feeling as your metal syringe or they were a complicated needle that the assistants were worried they would poke themselves trying to figure out how to get it on and off!
We recently received the SimpleCAPNeedle System (Verena Solutions, LLC) here at the Dental Advisor. This safety needle has a very unique placement system. It comes in a capsule! No, you don’t mix it in your triturator… you remove the lower part of the capsule to screw it onto your syringe (image below). When the top part of the capsule is removed you expose a sheathed needle. You simply twist to unlock the sheath and can lower it to expose the needle and re-sheath with a twist as well.
SimpleCAP on syringe in covered position
SimpleCAP on syringe in exposed position
SimpleCAP comes in capsules you safely screw onto the syringe
SimpleCAP lower portion being removed from the capsule – exposing the portion you screw onto syringe
Needle being exposed and re-covered
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team? – Very easy on and easy off of the syringe. – Easy to sheath and unsheath syringe with this system. – Very sturdy on the syringe, I want to see how sturdy it is while injecting though! – Yes, I found a way to poke myself right after putting it on so it goes to show that nothing is foolproof; however, common sense can prevail, LOL. – So easy to use that it makes it tough to use the excuse anymore that safely recapping taking too much time!
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!
As I’ve mentioned before, I like having options. There are so many different treatment situations and you never know what is going to walk through the door. I like to have the right material for the right situation… maybe that is why I love working at the Dental Advisor :-).
Here at the Dental Advisor we recently received Estelite Universal Flow (Tokuyama). If you like choices… wow, this is for you. This flowable composite is made with Tokuyama’s supra-nano, spherical filler technology which I have found makes your restorations very easy to finish. According to the manufacturer it also has a higher filler content than traditional flowables, does not compromise on strength, and is non-sticky.
This flowable composite comes in three different viscosities and a ton of different shades (High: 7 shades, Medium: 12 shades, Super Low: 6 shades). The Super Low flow is very thick. When we were playing with it, as you can see in the image below, it stacked up perfectly and did not move after that. The Medium Flow flowed out just a little, and the High Flow pancaked right out. The Medium Flow also comes in a compule (they call it PLT) that fits in your composite gun and has a long tip on it so you can still get it down to the floor of your box. All viscosities can be bought separately, so you just get the viscosities and shades you want.
Three viscosities
Dispensing the Super Low Flow
Dispensing the Medium Flow right next to the Super Low Flow
Administering the High Flow next to the other two
Comparing the Medium Flow from the compule (PLT) to the syringed
All three next to each other
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team? – The viscosities were exactly as promised. – Lots of selection! – Is it too much selection for some clinicians? Many prefer to minimize inventory. – The Super Low viscosity was difficult to extrude, the other two were great. – I really like the PLT (compule). I felt very stable extruding it compared to the syringes.
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!
The nice thing about when I was a dental assistant was that no one was afraid of me. Now that I am a dentist, when I walk in the room patients look at me like I am a needle wielding maniac… until they get to know me. We advertise painless dentistry, but the injection is still a huge source of fear for our patients.
One technique to minimize injection pain is to give the anesthetic slowly. There have been a couple of computerized systems on the market that give the anesthetic at a slow pace for us. They also have a look that is unfamiliar to patients, so (even thought we try to hide it) they do not get that spike in blood pressure if they sneak a peak. Until now these systems have been clunky machines that take up counter space and have a bunch of wires, hoses, and a foot control.
Recently, we received Dentapen® (Septodont) at the Dental Advisor. This electronic syringe is cordless and battery operated. All the controls are on the handle, so no foot control necessary. You use your own needles and anesthetic carpules as usual. It has 3 injection speeds and 2 modes – continuous flow or gradual increase.
Dentapen dispensing anesthetic at slowest setting
Box contents
Two styles, traditional and pen grasp
Putting a carpule into Dentapen
Dentapen assembled
Dispensing anesthetic with traditional syringe handle (my preference)
Dispensing anesthetic with pen-style handle
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team and our editorial board? – Super light weight! – Easy to assemble and we like that you can use your own anesthetic and carpules. – It takes kind of a long time to reverse after administering the carpule, so if you want to administer more then one carpule you have to sit and wait. – Comes with 2 extra batteries in the container, which makes us wonder about battery life.
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 dental assistant, I found myself many times taking a torch to the distal extension of a plastic tray. I was trying to melt it just enough to re-mold and widen it without setting it or myself on fire. I was mostly successful.
We recently received TransForm™ Heat Mouldable Impression Trays (Astek Innovations) here at the Dental Advisor. These impression trays are able to be reshaped by placing the area you wish to mold in water heated to approximately 158 degrees for approximately 20 seconds. According to the manufacturer these trays are made of a strong material, are anatomically shaped, have finger rests, and are made of biodegradable material. Available in small, medium, and large trays in dentate and edentulous.
What were the Initial Insights of the Dental Advisor team? – Very easy to mold once submerged in the hot water. – Placing it back in the hot water made the material go back to it’s original shape. Very convenient in case you over mold.
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!
