Joshua Austin, DDS, MAGD
G-ænial Sculpt universal composite by GC America
I have a good friend who practices in the fancy-schmancy uptown area of Dallas, Texas. This particular friend is part of a group of restorative dentists who are interested in biomimetic dentistry. The idea of biomimetic dentistry is to return a tooth to functional and esthetic health with conservative and minimally invasive bonded restorations. This results in beautiful, anatomical restorations, which are often done with composite resin.
My friend has completed some beautiful cases with resin composite that my dental school education would have led me to do with indirect ceramics. I find his approach fascinating, and his work with resin composite is breathtaking. His composite of choice is G-ænial Sculpt by GC America. After using it for a few weeks, I can see why.
G-ænial Sculpt is a universal nanohybrid composite suitable for use in both the posterior and the anterior. The handling and polishability make this material a winner among the biomimetic crowd. It’s easy to shape this material and add nice anatomy.
This universal composite has some unique properties. It features nanofillers that are uniformly dispersed for excellent wear resistance and a superior polish. The polish that can be achieved with G-ænial Sculpt is so shiny that it reflects light just like enamel does. It retains that gloss well with a proprietary “self-polishing” effect. Basically, repeated tooth brushing cycles repolish the material because of the nanofiller surface treatment. That keeps the material looking glossy over time. In addition to the great polish, the material’s nanofillers also give it high strength.
G-ænial Sculpt is available in 17 different shades and offers some great shading flexibility. It comes in basic, run-of-the-mill body shades, such as A1, A2, A3, A3.5, A4, B1, B2, B3, and C3, and in three opaque shades, AO1, AO2, and AO3. Bleach white and extra bleach white are part of the mix too. The final three are interesting shades that GC America offers that you may not find elsewhere: CV, JE, and AE. Cervical helps us mimic that dark gold shade we sometimes see at the necks of teeth, especially in older patients. Juvenile and adult enamel are universal, one-size-fits-all shades for posteriors for those respective age groups.
I found G-ænial Sculpt to provide great handling, strength, shading options, and polishability. The restorations I placed were both strong and pretty. That is a winning combination in my book. Check out G-ænial Sculpt for your universal nanohybrid composite needs. Line-drive single for GC America!
Panavia V5 universal cement by Kuraray Dental
Over the past few years, I have written a lot in this column about the need for a go-to workhorse cement. Generally speaking, I want my workhorse cement to be something that will retain ceramic crowns well and be easy to work with and clean up. But some cements that are both easy to use and clean up have fairly low bond strengths.
Most of the time, that is probably OK; we don’t always need high bond strengths to successfully retain crowns. After all, glass ionomer cements worked well for decades and have minimal bond strengths. There are situations, though, when we need extra bond strength—when every single megapascal counts! For those situations, we need a cement we can depend on.
If cements that are easy to use and clean up tend to have low bond strengths, then logically, you might think cements that have high bond strengths would be hard to use and clean up. But what if I told you that I found a cement that has ridiculously high bond strength and is also easy to use and clean up? Well, it’s true—I found it. That cement is Panavia V5 by Kuraray Dental.
Kuraray is a bonding company. It has been in the bonding business for 30-plus years. Clearfil is one of the best-selling dentin-bonding agents in history. Kuraray introduced the original 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP) adhesive monomer in 1983 and has an unparalleled track record in adhesive dentistry.
But for some reason, I never even thought about trying Panavia V5 until my dental lab, Oral Arts, sent me a sample with a case. I had preconceived notions about Panavia from its previous iterations. Panavia F was available in my dental school clinic and was always used in tough situations. The general stereotype of Panavia F around the clinic was that it was difficult to use and clean up, and you had better be quick while using it, or you would create a splint of cement between the new crown and adjacent teeth. For those reasons, Panavia F scared me when I was a dental student. After that, Panavia was never on my radar.
The day we got the sample of Panavia V5, I had a patient call about a crown that had come off again. It was a short prep on No. 18, and I was having trouble getting it to stay on with my “workhorse” cements. I decided to give Panavia V5 a try, and I am glad I did. It was much simpler than I expected.
There were no extra steps like I expected. A drop of ceramic primer is applied to the crown, and a drop of tooth primer is applied to the tooth. That is it! Other than that, all you need to do is load the crown (via an automix syringe) and go. Cleanup is surprisingly easy too, as far as self-etch resin cements go.
Panavia V5 can achieve tensile bond strengths to dentin similar to Clearfil SE, which is outrageously high for a cement. It is amine-free, so it is color stable, and it is available in multiple shades: A2, clear, A4, white, and opaque. In addition, Kuraray has data to show its high shear bond strength to pretty much every restorative material, including zirconia, lithium disilicate, feldspathic porcelain, composite, and metal.
After having used Panavia V5 for more than 100 units of indirect restorations, I have had zero come off. Nothing that I have cemented with Panavia V5 has had to be recemented. With retention this great, ease of use, and relatively easy cleanup, I have found a new workhorse resin cement for my practice. Solo home run to right field for Panavia V5!
