Thursday, May 17, 2012
Often at dental conventions we see a bunch of new products, and because they are new, we report on them. At the CDA meeting in Anaheim, I saw several products that were not necessarily new, but innovative and useful. These were products that someone bothered to invent that actually solved little problems I have often encountered when treating patients. See some of the highlights below.
A New LED Solution
LED operatory lights have become more popular in the last few years simply because they do more and are more functional than traditional halogen operatory lights. Flight Dental Systems had their G.comm Polaris LED Operatory Light on display, and it had a few new features not seen before in an LED light. Rather than having discrete color temperature settings, you have a dial that can adjust to any point between 4,200 and 6,000 Kelvin. They have a few studies that show that at 4,200 K, there is better contrast when doing surgical procedures on soft tissue. It also allows you to remove the handle, and clip on a bleaching light for in-office whitening.
Why Didn’t I Think Of That: Finishing Strips Edition
I had a great visit with the team at Diatech. These guys have an amazing line-up of diamonds, carbides, and pretty much anything that attaches to a handpiece. Even if you haven’t heard of them, you have probably used their prophy angles in one form or another. My favorite product they had was their diamond finishing strip. We have all struggled with using those little strips in the mouth since they are so narrow and difficult to hold on to. Diatech added circular handles to either side, making it easy to grab on to the strip and get the job done. They also have a two-sided version coming out that will be great for interproximal reduction cases with Invisalign.
Surgery Made Simple
MIS Implants has a suite of products for your implant practice, from the implants themselves to bone grafting materials. One great part of their arsenal is their Bone Compression Kit. It allows for expansion, as well as doing sinus bumps, by slowly and safely turning a screw in the extraction site or osteotomy. The tip of the screw is concave which allows you to safely tent up the sinus membrane.
For Class II Composites
We have all had it happen. You take the matrix band off the class two composite and there it is: an open contact. Often I will use an instrument to press the matrix band to the adjacent tooth, but then the curing light has a hard time getting in there. Garrison Dental has a little tool called the PerForm that can help with this. It’s a little wedge attached to a handle that allows you to put pressure toward the adjacent tooth. The kicker is that its made of clear plastic so you can drop the curing light right on top of it to get the composite set up. One side is set up to curve anteriorly for a mesially placed matrix band, and vice versa for the opposite side. For a piece of plastic, it’s a bit expensive at $79 each, but you will use this thing every day.
Why Didn’t I Think Of That: Open Tray Impression Edition
Taking an open tray impression for implants is often an exercise in frustration. You have a tray full of goop, and it’s sliding all over as you try to line up the holes in the impression tray. The resulting mess leaves you wondering if it would have been easier to use closed tray impression copings, even though you know you can’t beat the accuracy. Hager Worldwide spent a long time developing a solution that eliminates the frustration. The Miratray Implant has a tough cellophane base instead of having the plastic wrap all the way around. As you place the impression tray over the impression copings, you can press down to pop just the impression coping through the base. There is no need to drill any holes or line anything up. It’s one of those things that when you see it, you wonder why you didn’t think of that first.
Easy Intraoral Pics
An intraoral camera is, to me, as indispensable as a handpiece in your office. There are dozens of great cameras to choose from, with the newest types having USB connections for quick setup. The SuniCam II from Suni is a great little USB intraoral camera, and sports bright LED’s and an autofocusing lens. The killer feature though is how it captures an image. Most cameras are push button, and can result in blurred or distorted images from the camera moving after the button push. The SuniCam II instead has a slide sensor. Instead of squeezing down on something, you simply glide your finger across the surface, and boom, you have your picture on screen.
Did you attend CDA South? See anything interesting that I missed? Let me know in the comments below!