Pearls for Your Practice: Contouring strips, polish kit, self-adhesive resin

FitStrip finishing and contouring strips by Garrison Dental Solutions

A rotary disc is one of the most dangerous items in a dental office. Using a rotary disc intraorally to break or adjust interproximal contacts can lead to significant damage or cause injury to the patient. Using a nonrotary device to handle these situations is important. Several nonrotary solutions are available on the market. FitStrip by Garrison Dental Solutions is a great one.

FitStrips are great for adjusting the interproximal contacts of restorations that are too tight for the patient to floss. You can also use this system for performing interproximal reduction in conjunction with traditional orthodontics or Invisalign.

One feature that sets FitStrip apart from other products is the optional handle that improves access to difficult-to-reach areas. With the handle in place, your hands don’t block the field and can stay outside the mouth. By simply twisting the colored section of the strip, you can adjust the tension in the strip to adapt it to the tooth needing adjustment. For a lower anterior tooth, a tight strip works great. However, on the distal of a maxillary molar, a little slack in the strip helps it adapt to the broader curve.

Another nice feature of these strips is that they can be autoclaved and reused. These aren’t single-use disposable items. They are durable and long-lasting, which helps the bottom line.

The FitStrip kit contains strips of multiple thicknesses - coarse, medium, fine, and superfine - all of which are available in both single- and double-sided designs. Also included is a serrated FitStrip, which works well for removing excess cement between teeth.

I used FitStrips in my practice for Invisalign-related interproximal reduction and to adjust a tight interproximal contact after a composite restoration, and I was happy with the results. Being able to add a handle made access easier, and adjusting the tightness of the strip with just a twist was simple and effective. Line-drive single to left field for Garrison Dental on FitStrips!

Chairside Denture Prep and Polish Kit by Zest Dental Solutions

When I was in dental school, I knew an attending faculty member who used to say, “Dentures are not a replacement for teeth. They are a replacement for no teeth.” I have always found this to be a profound idea to share with patients who might expect more than can be delivered with a new set of dentures. Mandibular dentures are especially frustrating and difficult for me. Even well-made ones can have major stability issues. That same person would also say, “Denture success is 80% about being a psychiatrist.” There is also great truth in that. As a result, dentures are one of the least enjoyable procedures I do. I do not have fun making dentures.

I have gotten to the point of telling patients that unless the plan is to place at least two implants in the mandible, I will not make them dentures. Implants can offer such an improvement in denture success and function, especially in mandibular arches. Over the years, Zest Locator attachments have become the industry’s favorite attachment system for overdentures. Implants don’t make dentures a slam dunk though. We still need a well-made denture, and the pick-up process for converting a denture into an implant-supported overdenture can be difficult and tedious. Zest’s Chairside Denture Prep and Polish Kit helps make the process much easier by giving you the tools you need to successfully engage the attachments.

The kit contains five burs and an acrylic polisher. The Chairside Recess bur is the first step of the process. Using it, we can create space in the denture for the attachment housing. The Chairside Recess bur has depth landmarks for Zest Locator and Saturno attachment housings, so you know when you’ve gone deep enough. The Undercut bur comes next, and it creates an undercut in the recess that provides some mechanical retention around the attachment housings. The Vent Hole bur helps you extend the hole from the bottom of the recess through the lingual wall of the denture. We have to have that access all the way through the denture so we can inject pick-up material and visualize complete encapsulation of the housing. Finally, the Trim and Grind burs help us remove excess pick-up material after it has set, and the Chairside Polisher gives us a smooth finish on the new pick-up material.

This is an all-encompassing, unique bur kit that has everything you need to pick up attachment housings when you convert overdentures. This may not be a kit that you use every day or every week, but when you are converting, this kit will make your life easier! Sharply hit single back up the middle for Zest on the Chairside Denture Prep and Polish Kit!

Envy self-adhesive resin cement by Essential Dental Systems (EDS)

Last summer, I watched all the David Fincher-directed films I could get my hands on. The whole thing started when I read a magazine feature about the Zodiac murders that occurred during the ‘60s and ‘70s. That lead me to the film Zodiac, which I thought was really well directed . . . and down the Fincher rabbit hole I went. One film that stood out to me as Fincher’s best was Seven, which depicts the seven deadly sins and culminates with a jaw-dropping turn of events. In one of the most iconic scenes in film history, Kevin Spacey’s John Doe informs his captors that he is guilty of envy. When I received a package from Essential Dental Systems (EDS) a few months ago, I asked my assistant, “What’s in the box? What’s in the box?!”

The cement in the box was Envy, a self-adhesive resin cement by EDS. Self-adhesive resin cements are one-step products. Simply load your restoration with cement and insert it. No separate etching or priming steps are required. Generally speaking, it can be difficult to achieve adequate, lasting bond strengths when using self-adhesive resin cements, compared to their self-etch cousins, which require a separate primer step. EDS’s data actually shows very high bond strength to dentin, enamel, zirconia, and lithium disilicate.

One other advantage that Envy has is its pH balance. All resins are acidic at initial placement. Envy undergoes a pH shift over its first 24 hours to achieve neutrality. This helps with long-term stability and reduces plaque adhesion.

Envy is also very easy to use. Since it is basically a one-step cement, one must simply isolate the tooth, load Envy into the restoration, and insert. Envy is dual-cure, so it can be allowed to chemically cure over time, or it can be tack cured with a curing light for an accelerated set.

EDS also touts the color stability of Envy, which is a great feature for anterior restorations. Envy comes in three shades. With the options of opaque white, A2, and clear, you can have some flexibility in esthetically demanding situations.

Envy is available in a 9 g automix syringe that comes with a couple of different tip options. I would recommend looking into Envy if you are looking for a good self-adhesive cement, especially for zirconia restorations. Solid line-drive single to left field for EDS!

The Product Navigator is an e-newsletter from DE and DentistryIQ. The Product Navigator aims to help readers navigate their dental and hygiene product decisions by providing helpful information about the products on the market today. Delivered twice per month with quarterly special hygiene editions, the newsletter includes exclusive product articles, information about new products, a mailbag, and enhanced content from DE’s Pearls for Your Practice column. Whenever you see any of the icons below next to a Pearl, click on them in the digital edition of DE to navigate to the newsletter and check out the enhanced version of the Pearl.