Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment by Solventum
There a few flagship brands in the dental industry. Household name kind of brands. 3M was one of them. Lately, you may have noticed a different name out there: Solventum. 3M Oral Care has spun off of the flagship 3M company and became Solventum Oral Care. Same great products, just a different brand name and color scheme. Amazing products like Filtek Supreme Ultra and Scotchbond Universal Plus are still the same formulations; they just have a new label. One of 3M’s—I mean, Solventum’s (this is going to be a hard habit to break)—newest additions has become my dental hygienist’s favorite preventive product. Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment is now our practice’s fluoride treatment of choice.
Fluoride varnishes have gained popularity for prevention over the past 15 years or so. The original formulas were thick, sticky, yellow messes that worked great, but patients generally disliked them. I understand the dislike. Apart from the results, they frankly ruined the “fresh after a cleaning” feeling that patients enjoy. They got to feel their clean, smooth teeth for all of two minutes before we slapped a sticky, yellow goo on them. Bad experience. Solventum has fixed this with Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment.
It is a water-based formulation that is free of sticky rosin. It applies and coats the teeth easily, but without leaving that sticky film that previous varnishes did. The “ready-release” formula only needs 15 minutes of contact time for results. With flavors like mint and watermelon (and flavorless), there’s a solution for every patient demographic.
Because rosin generally comes from plants, some patients may have allergy issues with those types of varnishes. But with its water-based formula, that should not occur with Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment. It also will not gum up suction lines, which your vacuum pump will enjoy. One aspect of using Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment that I like is the extra flexibility it gives us. My practice is busy, and I can’t always come in for a hygiene exam when my hygienist calls me. My hygienist used to have to wait until I was done to do the patient’s fluoride treatment, putting them behind schedule even more. Now, with Clinpro Clear, my hygienist can apply it while waiting for me. Because it is so clear and thin, I can do my full periodic exam without the hindrance of a cloudy, gunky varnish. This keeps us on time and my patients well protected!
Switching fluoride varnishes isn’t going to be a miracle cure for your practice. They work, and they work well, but if we can eliminate a couple of the minor annoyances, it can make our lives easier. That is what Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment does—it eliminates some of the minor annoyances, which makes my patients more likely to say yes. Single to right center field for Solventum!
Desensimax by Vista Apex
Is there anything more brutal for the mental health of a dentist than post-op sensitivity issues? It seems like I can never stop second-guessing myself after I have a run of post-op sensitivity. The worst ones are almost never after deep restorations, either. They are after simple, basic class I and II resin composites. When a patient comes back with post-op sensitivity after those, my will to live slowly evaporates from my body. Having tools to help combat post-op sensitivity has become more important than ever. If we can take one simple step to prevent sensitivity, we can save time, money, frustration, and sanity. Desensimax by Vista Apex is my go-to choice here.
Desensimax is a desensitizer that can help you with adhesive dentistry in many ways. First off, it acts to prevent bond degradation by deactivating MMPs (matrix metalloproteinase). MMPs are enzymes that live in the dentin that can degrade our dentin-resin adhesive interface. They tend to be activated by acids, so things like etching dentin can kick off the degradation process. Desensimax can deactivate these, giving us a longer-term, stable dentin bond.
In addition, Desensimax can serve to rewet the tooth surface prior to adhesive bonding. Many bond systems require a moist or damp surface to get the best, symptom-free bond possible. In our process of rinsing and drying after the etchant, it is not uncommon to overdry the dentin, collapsing the collagen matrix. Desensimax works great to rehydrate this, maximizing the bond strength and diminishing post-op sensitivity. Desensimax also deposits fluoride and a proprietary ingredient to the surface of the tooth to create a zone of inhibition.
Using Desensimax is pretty simple. First off, make sure you shake the bottle vigorously for three seconds before dispensing it. Etch in your preferred method, and then apply Desensimax using a small microapplicator. I try to get a uniform application over the entire preparation and then let it sit for around five seconds. I then take my high-volume evacuation suction tip and hold it over the preparation. This should remove any excess from the preparation to prevent any pooling. After this, I proceed with my normal adhesive protocol.
You can also use Desensimax under a temporary crown or a final crown before cementation. You should not, however, use RMGI luting cement with Desensimax. If you want to desensitize before using an RMGI luting cement, use BondSaver instead. It will not inhibit the set of RMGI cement, but Desensimax will.
If Desensimax can save you from having post-op sensitivity in one out of 10 restorations, in my mind it’s worth it. Double to left field for Vista Apex!
iTero Design Suite by Align Technology
Digital touches every part of the dentistry we do today. Even if you’re still taking analog impressions, chances are, digital methods are being used to fabricate your restoration. I recently was lecturing outside of Pittsburgh. I asked the audience who was using digital dentistry. A dentist in the front row did not raise his hand, so I engaged him with some questions. I asked him if he did digital or analog impressions. He answered that he still uses polyvinyl siloxane impression material and that he “did not trust digital dentistry.” I asked him what kind of crowns he generally ordered. Without hesitation, he said “Bruxzir.” This made me chuckle, because zirconia crowns cannot be fabricated without digital technology. He was unknowingly using digital! Digital touches everything. Since the advent of digital dentistry, design has been mostly performed by a laboratory technician. Digital dental design software is clunky and difficult to use. In addition, it’s an expensive software license.
iTero Design Suite from Align Technology is designed to close the gap between technicians and dentists for the most basic and routine procedures we do. iTero Design Suite is powered by Exocad, one of the most popular dental design software suites in the world. Instead of having a full license and software suite that can do any dental design, which is probably overkill for 99% of dentists, iTero Design Suite takes the features that most dentists could benefit from and makes it easy to use.
iTero Design Suite integrates with myiTero.com and makes it simple for a dentist to use an iTero scan to design either models, occlusal splints, or indirect restorations (crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, bridges) for 3D printing. The software integrates very well with many of the most popular 3D printers on the market. Once designed, a model, splint, or restoration is sent directly over to the 3D printing software for fabrication. The whole process takes less than five minutes per design.
I have made and printed a few restorations with iTero Design Suite, and it was very simple. A few clicks and a restoration was generated. I made very minor adjustments to them and had them batched to my printer in less than five minutes. I have also made a bunch of occlusal splints with iTero Design Suite as well. The first one probably took me eight minutes to design. Every design after that took less than five minutes. It became very easy after I had a couple under my belt. I have always been intrigued with the idea of using Exocad in my office, but the software seemed so daunting and overwhelming. iTero Design Suite made it easy for the things I would want to design, without having to make the big purchase of a software license. Triple to deep center field for Align Technology!
Editor's note: This article appeared in the March 2025 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
