I hate necessary evils. Why are they necessary—why can’t magic come along and eliminate that stuff? One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is walk my dogs. However, there is a necessary evil that goes along with walking my dogs. I have to be a good neighbor and clean up after them as I walk them. Yuck. Necessary evil.
That’s how I feel about attachments for clear aligners. We cannot do clear aligner therapy without them, but they are no fun to place. And they are no fun to remove. So how can we make them easier and more predictable? For me, it’s Tetric EvoFlow trans shade by Ivoclar Vivadent.
Tetric EvoFlow is a great flowable composite that can be used in many applications in restorative dentistry. It can be obviously used as a base or a liner under direct composite restorations in conjunction with Tetric EvoCeram or Tetric Primer. We use it for this application frequently in my practice. It handles well, flows well, and helps make my direct restorations better. Tetric EvoFlow along with Tetric composites are a great direct restorative solution.
More Pearls:
Tetric Prime by Ivoclar Vivadent
Clearfil Majesty ES-2 by Kuraray Noritake Dental
What I really love Tetric EvoFlow trans shade for is attachments for clear aligners. If our attachments are not placed correctly, we will not get efficient orthodontic movements. Tetric EvoFlow is easy to load in our template. Instead of thick, clumpy flashlike paste composite can leave, Tetric EvoFlow trans leaves flash in thin layers that are easily cleaned up. In fact, most of the time, it can be scraped off with a sickle scaler!
Certainly, you could use any shade Tetric EvoFlow for any of these things. However, the trans shade is really special. It has an amazing chameleon effect and blends in invisibly when used for attachments for clear aligners. It is the EvoFlow version of a “universal shade.” You can use this on any patient and it will blend seamlessly. Trans shade is easily the best choice for using Tetric EvoFlow. When used as a base or a liner, shade doesn’t really matter, so the trans shade is literally all I stock in this product.
Thankfully, Dr. David Galler taught me about Tetric EvoFlow trans shade for clear aligner attachments in his Reingage course. I learned a lot about clear aligners in that two-day course, and one of the most important things was the importance of placing attachments correctly and how to do it. Tetric EvoFlow trans shade is a big part of that. Since I started using it, I have not looked back. Triple to deep center field for Tetric EvoFlow trans shade!
