Article by Michael C. DiTolla, DDS, FAGD
| Product: |
Demi™ LED Curing Light |
| Category: |
Light Curing System |
| Source: |
Kerr Corporation
Orange, CA
800-537-7123
www.kerrdental.com |
Kerr has been at the forefront of light curing technology going all the way back to their Demetron roots. Their new LED curing light, the Demi, has been on the market for just over a year and is already the #1 selling LED curing light in America. I got to test a unit
as a CRA evaluator and purchased one as soon as I had to give the other one back. Other evaluators were impressed too, and in the July 2008 Clinician's Report, the Demi was rated the best combination of performance and handling of all the LED curing lights. The Demi has a technology called "Periodic Level Shifting" that gives you a true five-second cure time for composites shade A3 and lighter. The Demi accommodates all Demetron light tips in case you have a favorite tip such as a 2 mm tip. It is half the size and weight of previous Demetron LED curing lights which would be reason enough for me to consider purchasing it, even without the PLS technology. The charger will charge two batteries as well, ensuring you are never at a loss for light.
| Product: |
COE® Adjust-A-Tray™ |
| Category: |
Impression Tray |
| Source: |
GC America, Inc.
Alsip, IL
800-323-7063
www.gcamerica.com |
Every once in a while a product comes out that makes me really angry that I did not think of it myself, and
the COE Adjust-A-Tray is one of those products. The genius of the Adjust-A-Tray is its ability to be used in four different widths: small, medium, large and extra-large. The most common scenario for me is when I try a medium tray into someone's mouth and discover it is too small. At this point, you simply remove the tray, unsnap it from the medium setting and snap it into the large size. Also, due to perforations at the rear portion of the tray, you can adjust the tray to three different lengths. There have been plenty of times when the width of a tray is acceptable but the tray is too long, and the Adjust-A-Tray easily solves that problem. There are also two different sulcus heights so that you can use the tray for partially edentulous arches as well. I still use custom trays for all large crown and bridge cases, but Adjust-A-Trays are great for all study models, splints, and opposing models.
| Product: |
Exposé® |
| Category: |
Caries Detector |
| Source: |
Centrix Dental
Shelton, CT
800-235-5862
www.centrixdental.com |
At times, I have loved the idea of caries indicators more than I loved the caries indicators themselves. Whether it was the time it took to set up the syringe or place it in a dappen dish and grab a cotton pellet, there were times when I would revert to using my sight and tactile feel to diagnose caries. Somewhere inside, I knew I could be fooled by caries and that it would be more accurate to stain the teeth; I just needed the right product to help me introduce it into an efficient routine. Enter Exposé from Centrix. Leave it to Centrix to figure out a way to impregnate caries indicator onto the tip of one of their Benda Micro applicators. Simply wet the tip of the brush (or if the tooth is already wet, you can leave the brush dry). Brush the prep with the tip of the brush and rinse. The Exposé material remains on the affected dentin. After removal, simply brush suspicious areas of the prep again and rinse. It's simple and accurate, and a caries indicator is now part of my standard routine.
| Product: |
QUAD-TRAY Xtreme™ |
| Category: |
Impression Tray |
| Source: |
Clinician's Choice
New Milford, CT
800-265-3444
www.quadtray.com |
The QUAD-TRAY Xtreme is definitely on my list of products I wouldn't want to practice without. I'm not sure what took it so long to get onto these pages, perhaps I have just started to take it for granted. Maybe it's because it gets covered with impression material pretty quickly and is not heard from again. From the looks of the double-arch tray cases coming into the laboratory, many of you like it as well, since almost one-third of our incoming cases are taken with QUAD-TRAYs. Clinician's Choice improved the original QUAD-TRAY by making the distal bar 25 percent thinner to help make room for the retro molar pad, a big problem area for plastic double-arch trays. A shorter lingual wall keeps the tray free from the patient's anterior teeth, another common cause of plastic double-arch tray distortion. The QUAD-TRAY Xtreme is now the #1 selling aluminum double-arch impression tray in the world, and has been my exclusive double-arch tray for the last seven years. Try one and you won't go back to plastic!
