Article by Michael C. DiTolla, DDS, FAGD
| Product: |
RelyX™ Luting Plus Automix |
| Source: |
3M ESPE
St. Paul, Minn.
800-634-2249
www.3m.com |
How do you improve on the world's most popular crown & bridge
cement? For starters, you make it so that your dental assistant doesn't
have to mix it anymore. With the automix tip, simply express and
discard a ball bearing-sized amount and fill the crown directly. As if
that weren't enough, the excess cement can now be light-cured for
five seconds and cleaned up in the gel state immediately, instead of
waiting the usual two to three minutes. Well played, 3M ESPE! (Figure 1)
| Product: |
PFG gel |
| Source: |
Steven's Pharmacy
Costa Mesa, Calif.
800-352-3784
www.stevensrx.com |
I am pretty fanatical about giving painless injections.
I really do take it seriously. Since finding PFG gel,
my confidence level has reached an all-time high for
being able to tell patients that they won't feel pain
from the needle. In response to dentists who said they
wished PFG wasn't quite so runny at body temperature,
there is now a more viscous version available in a jar.
And for those dentists (including me) who wanted a
flavor added, it is now available in marshmallow and
cotton candy, which is especially helpful for use on
pedo patients. (Figure 2)
Because I practice in a dental laboratory, you might
imagine that most of my restorations are indirect.
When doing a crown on tooth #14, it just always seemed
easier to take out the old DO amalgam on tooth #13 and
the old MO amalgam on tooth #15 and impress them for
inlays; however, since the introduction of SonicFill, I've
had to rethink that. SonicFill gives me the ability to bulk-fill
5 mm of composite in seconds. The sonic activation
of the composite lowers the viscosity, allowing the
material to easily adapt to the cavity walls. I can now do
posterior composites faster than I make an inlay temp
— and all I was looking to do was replace the failing
amalgam and get some nice proximal contacts for my
crown. SonicFill has me doing posterior composites
again! (Figure 3)
| Product: |
DYC rinse |
| Source: |
Steven's Pharmacy
Costa Mesa, Calif.
800-352-3784
www.stevensrx.com |
As attached as I am to my PFG gel, that's how my
hygienists feel about DYC rinse. Here in California, my
hygienists can give local anesthesia for their scaling
and root planing cases, but it is those cases that
aren't quite that advanced, but are still sensitive, that
prove problematic. With DYC rinse, my hygienists have
patients swish a Dixie cup full of the topical anesthetic
solution in their mouth for 45 to 60 seconds and it
provides full-mouth soft tissue anesthesia for about 30
minutes. In addition to sensitive hygiene patients, they
also use it on gaggers prior to FMXs and impressions for
study models. (Figure 4)
