By Joe Blaes, DDS
IMAGE Dust-Free Alginate from DUX Dental
If you are looking for a high quality alginate at a great price, then IMAGE should be your choice for everyday alginate impressions. IMAGE is a green-colored alginate that is much easier to read than white alginates. It is a mint-scented alginate that delivers a smooth, glasslike surface that has truly amazing detail. It is 100% biodegradable. Once you try IMAGE, you will not go back to your old alginate. I cannot mention alginate impression material without telling you about the amazing Alginator.
I have been using this alginate mixer for over 25 years and would not be without one in my office. This product guarantees that you will not have any bubbles in your impression material. Lock the special rubber Alginator bowl on top of the Alginator; then simply put IMAGE in the bowl and add water. Incorporate the powder and liquid with your spatula for a few seconds. Turn on the one-speed motor and the bowl begins to spin as you place the blade of the spatula tightly against the side of the bowl and move it down to the bottom of the bowl and up again. The edge of the spatula will easily collect the mixed alginate. This gives you a very smooth, bubble-free mix to load into your impression tray. After filling the tray, clean the excess material off the spatula with your finger. Smear this alginate onto all surfaces of the teeth and then seat your tray. Smearing the alginate onto the teeth assures intimate contact between the material and the tooth surface. This is the best procedure to eliminate air bubbles and voids in an impression.
Order IMAGE Alginate and the Alginator from your dealer or visit www.duxdental.com for more information.
eCEMENT from BISCO, Inc.
When it comes to cementing veneers, crowns, and inlays, I have always selected a cement from a company that has a trusted record of research and development. BISCO is one of the companies that I trust. When research chemist Dr. Byoung I. Suh founded BISCO in 1981, the main focus of the company was resin composites. Through focused research and development, BISCO has pioneered dental adhesion technology products and it now introduces eCEMENT. This is a resin cementation system designed to simplify the placement of lithium disilicate (e.g., IPS e.max® by Ivoclar) restorations. Lithium disilicate is a silica-based glass ceramic available in pressed and milled forms, with both high and medium opacities and high and low translucencies.
The eCEMENT system contains both light-cure and dual-cure resin cement, ensuring that all of your lithium disilicate restorations will have exceptional retention and esthetics. The eCEMENT system may also be used for cementation of all restorations including veneers, inlays, onlays, crowns, three-unit bridges, CAD/CAM blocks, and pressable ingots made of lithium disilicate. It comes with a complete kit with all components needed to successfully cement lithium disilicate restorations. eCEMENT light-cured resin cements (Milky Bright and Translucent shades) are formulated to flow within the milled cement spaces and be fully reactive at 2 mm to the absorbing light energy. When you are dealing with a thicker crown or onlay, use eCEMENT dual-cure resin cement, which has a dedicated dark cure to ensure polymerization where the light cannot reach. Both types of eCEMENT have a low film thickness to ensure the restoration will seat completely. The light-cured cement has multiple shades to provide the best esthetic qualities. In my office, we found eCEMENT to be quick and easy to use. The directions are well presented and very easy to follow. We were able to adopt this system quickly and found it handled well and that the excess cement was easy to remove. It is radiopaque to assure complete cement removal and to allow for better visual assessment on radiographs. If cementing new materials is confusing you, switch to eCEMENT, the ideal cement for lithium disilicate.
Visit www.bisco.com for more information.
CareCredit Bridge in Eaglesoft 17
The CareCredit Bridge is a prepopulated application feature that lets you submit CareCredit credit card applications directly from your Eaglesoft patient screen, giving more patients faster access to care. There is no need to log in and no need to reenter information or worry about keystroke errors that can delay review of the credit application. Your patients simply provide income information, verify their prefilled application, and sign. A credit decision appears on your screen almost instantly, so approved patients can immediately pay for care they would like to schedule. With Eaglesoft 17, everyone on your team can have access to the same information. No more duplicate effort or misplaced paperwork. Our office has really taken to this new method of filing information for patients. This makes it so easy that anyone in the office can start the application process for a patient. In our office, we are front deskless so the CareCredit Bridge also makes the payment process faster and easier. CareCredit is a health-care credit card accepted by more than 175,000 providers. To date, CareCredit has helped more than 20 million patients get the care they want and need. For more than 25 years, CareCredit has been serving the dental community, earning the recommendation of most state and national associations and hundreds of practice-management consultants. As a bonus, CareCredit-enrolled providers have access to tips, tools, and resources to help their practices increase patients' access to care and help them reach their goals. Our office has accepted CareCredit for years. This has enabled so many patients to receive the dental treatment they needed and wanted.
Right after we started accepting CareCredit, our production and collection numbers began to show a dramatic increase. At the same time, our accounts receivable dropped and continued in that direction until today when they are less than one week's production. We have also taken advantage of the many services that CareCredit offers such as advice from industry leaders about finding new patients, minimizing failed appointments, increasing treatment acceptance, retaining patients, gaining referrals, and ongoing monitoring of regulatory and compliance requirements. It is easy to get started. First, you have to upgrade to Eaglesoft 17, and you must be enrolled in CareCredit. Once you have accomplished this, you simply install Eaglesoft 17. Under the Utilities menu, select CareCredit Interface Setup. Check the Supported checkbox, and enter your Merchant Number and zip code. Then click OK. If you have questions, call (800) 206-9669 for immediate activation assistance from CareCredit. If your practice is NOT enrolled in CareCredit, call (866) 258-4151 for immediate assistance. Put some easy into your day.
To reach a Patterson eService specialist, call (800) 294-8504.
