Article by Michael C. DiTolla, DDS, FAGD
| Product: |
Durelon™ |
| Category: |
Polycarboxylate Luting Cement |
| Source: |
3M™ ESPE™
St. Paul, MN
800-364-3577
www.3m.com |
When I graduated from dental school in 1988, Durelon was my permanent cement of choice. It seemed to work well until it started to turn mushy about five years after cementation. Maybe it's not a bad idea to have the crown fall off every five years to check the prep! When all the hype with glass ionomer cements started, I switched over. But when I had too many cases of post-operative sensitivity to ignore, I went running back to Durelon. With the advent of an excellent class of resin-reinforced glass ionomer cements, Durelon has decreased in use as a permanent cement. My reintroduction to Durelon was through Dr. Bill Strupp, who has used Durelon as a temporary cement for decades. We started using it about 10 years ago for our BioTemps® in large crown and bridge cases, and the temps simply don't come off. Due to its relatively neutral pH value, there is essentially no post-operative sensitivity with this cement, and it is well tolerated by the gingival as well.
There are some great product names in dentistry—you may know that my favorite has long been Algi-Not™, the alginate replacement product from Kerr. However, Physics Forceps from GoldenMisch, Inc., should win an award for its reputation as the "One Minute Extraction Forceps." That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it? We have a lot of overpromised/underdelivered products in dentistry, and I was pretty sure Physics Forceps was going to be about as successful as the 90-second crown prep, which led to a lot of bad preps done quickly.
The forceps came with a couple of study models to practice on, but the teeth seemed to come out a little too easily. If my patient's bone was this flexible, I wouldn't need forceps. Three days later, a patient walked in with a broken off upper first molar. My assistant grabbed the forceps while I looked at the directions one more time. I engaged the palatal root, placed the bumper on the buccal plate and, without squeezing, rotated the forceps. After 60 seconds of convincing myself nothing was happening, the tooth started to grow out of the socket! I switched to my regular forceps and lifted the tooth out 80 seconds from the time they were applied. This may be the first advance in exodontia technology in 100 years, but it was worth the wait!
| Product: |
KaVo ELECTROtorque plus Handpiece |
| Category: |
Electric Handpieces |
| Source: |
KaVo Dental Corporation
Lake Zurich, IL
800-323-8029
www.kavousa.com |
I see my KaVo ELECTROtorque plus handpiece the same way I see digital radiography: there is no downside except for cost. Is there any other piece of equipment that is more linked to our income than our handpieces? Why try to save money on the instrument you use to prep every inlay, veneer, crown and bridge in your practice?
I don't prep teeth faster with this electric handpiece, I just prep them better. This is because I can turn the speed down on the handpiece and turn the water off as well, due to the decreased heat with the slower revolutions. Amazingly, you still have all of the torque that you have when the handpiece is running full speed. This allows you to make perfect margins and see what you are doing without the water spray blocking your view. There is no better way to polish ceramic material intraorally than with an electric handpiece. In fact, I am not even sure you can really polish porcelain well with a traditional handpiece. That may sound a little overdramatic, but if you have loupes it will be pretty obvious to you as well. Polishing porcelain is all about torque, and you owe it to yourself to demo the KaVo ELECTROtorque plus handpiece at the next convention you attend.
| Product: |
Aidaco™ Bite Sticks |
| Category: |
Crown Seating Instrument |
| Source: |
Temrex Corporation
Freeport, NY
800-645-1226
www.temrex.com |
The ubiquitous orangewood bite sticks! They show up in practically all of my DVDs because I use them on nearly every case. I was first introduced to Aidaco Bite Sticks right out of dental school, during the two years that I practiced with my dad. He used them with a mallet to hammer in anterior crowns, and he would tell patients they were going to feel a "slight tapping sensation." Their body language suggested they were feeling a "massive jackhammer sensation." One day I had him tap on tooth 9 in my mouth with his mallet and bite stick, and the force he was able to deliver was shocking! That was the day I decided to retire the mallet and to just use the orangewood sticks with my hands. In Dad's defense, the cements of his day did not have the thin film thickness of today's cements and may have needed to be pounded into place. When you try to seat crowns with just finger pressure, the crowns indent into your fingertips and it's hard to tell if you are holding the crown in place. As you have seen, I use the sticks for crowns, veneers, even no-prep veneers in the anterior. In the posterior, I use them on every bridge by having the patient bite down on a bite stick during try-in for eight to 10 minutes. Whether we like it or not, preps shift in the two weeks between appointments, even with welldone provisionals—biting on the stick helps stubborn bridges go down into place. When you look at remake rates for our doctors, bridges always have a higher remake rate due to prep shifting. It certainly helps to do some "instant orthodontics" by having the patient bite down on an orangewood bite stick with the bridge in place prior to declaring it a remake. Often my dental assistant will do this before I even enter the room, so I can begin evaluating contacts and margins as soon as I walk in.
