BiteFX patient education software for dental occlusion
Occlusion—it’s truly one of the most difficult issues we have to deal with in dentistry. If it is difficult for us to understand, imagine how difficult it is for patients to understand what we are trying to accomplish and how it can influence their overall well-being.
BiteFX patient education software was designed to provide visual aids to help you educate patients about their needs and improve their understanding of their problems and the solutions you propose. It will improve your patient relationships and increase treatment acceptance rates. We all know that educated patients are more likely to accept our recommendations.
BiteFX has a collection of animations and photos that illustrate the TMJ, muscles of mastication, tooth shape, occlusion, and most importantly, how all of these are related. You can organize these animations for each patient and his or her problems, save them for future reference, or even print out a PDF summary report for the patient or your chart.
This is a membership-based program that has three levels of participation. While the basic level ($100 per month) is designed for use on PCs with Windows, the gold level ($150 per month) adds iPad compatibility, and the platinum level ($197 per month) includes many additional features, plus live coaching for you and your staff. Perhaps most enticing is the fact that the program comes with a 100% money-back guarantee for the first six months, and you can cancel your membership at any time.
BiteFX is a great educational tool that will assist you in helping more individuals who present with occlusal problems have healthier occlusion and happier lives.
ZirClean restoration cleaning gel from Bisco
Cementation of prosthetic restorations is an important process to ensure healthy and functional long-term success. Prior to cementing a crown, you usually try it in first to make sure you will have a proper fit once you cement it with a hard-set or “permanent” cement. (I prefer the term hard-set since nothing in life is permanent, including life itself.) Once you have tried in the crown and you remove it, what happens next is critical to the success of your cementation and reliability of your bond strength. You cannot simply rinse it out with water.
ZirClean by Bisco has been specifically designed for the nonabrasive cleaning of zirconia after intraoral try-in. When you try in the zirconia crown, the phosphate in saliva forms an ionic bond with zirconia, and it cannot be removed simply by rinsing with water or ultrasonic cleansing. To remove the ionic bond, you must use an alkaline solution, such as potassium hydroxide (KOH), which is the active ingredient in ZirClean.
ZirClean cleaning gel can also be used with other crown material substrates, such as all-metal and all-ceramic restorations. To use the cleaning gel, rinse out the restoration(s), and then simply syringe the gel into the crown(s) for 20 seconds, rinse it out, and air-dry. This will remove any contaminants that may have remained after the try-on phase. Manufacturer testing and independent studies have confirmed that ZirClean removes saliva contamination and increases shear bond strengths to zirconia, compared to using water or phosphoric acid, when tested using Bisco’s Z-Prime Plus and Duo-Link Universal (a great choice for cementation).
Tokuyama Universal Bond adhesive
I am not a big fan of mixing anything—be it cement, impression material, or adhesive. However, I do make an exception for Tokuyama Dental’s new universal adhesive, aptly named Universal Bond.
In only 25 seconds, you can mix the two components, apply it, thin it out with a gentle air stream until the solvent evaporates, and immediately apply your composite resin. And no, I did not forget to mention photocuring because it is not necessary. There is no need to light cure for 20 or 30 seconds and no need for rubbing or agitating it into the preparation surface. This is a truly universal material that can be used for direct and indirect restorations and with all substrates without any additional activators or primers. Of course, you can selectively etch the enamel whenever and wherever you might not have sufficient enamel surface area for retention, but that is optional. In a mere 25 seconds, you can accomplish what would require 30 to 40 seconds with another material.
The key to Universal Bond’s success is that with the two components you mix together—Bond A, an acidic monomer, and Bond B, a ceramic primer—there is no deterioration of the silane coupling agent and therefore no diminution of the bond strength when using ceramic, ceramo-metal, lithium disilicate, or zirconia restorative materials.
Time alone should not be a determining factor in your decision to use a material, but if you also consider this material’s easy cavity adaptation and excellent bond strengths, you have many valid reasons to give Tokuyama’s Universal Bond a try.
