Pearls for Your Practice Posted on 3 Mar 17:21

This product has been around for a while, and I am sure that a lot of dentists already are using it, but I just "discovered" it as I was walking through the ex¬hibits at the California Dental Association meeting in Anaheim. I usually have avoided custom impression trays because of all the steps and stinky materials involved in making them. When I need one, I send it off to the lab to have it fab¬ricated and that gets expensive.

This material has greatly simpli¬fied the process of making custom trays. The process was invented and is marketed by a dentist, Dr. John Wagner, and his wife, Nancy, out of Seattle. This new tray is not an acrylic, so there is no mixing, no smell, no liquids spilling and no mess! This is a thermoplastic material that is sup¬plied in the shape of upper and lower base plates. It is made moldable by placing it in water over 190 degrees for about 15 seconds. The water can be boiling and you can leave the material in the water for hours with no change — it just stays soft. Amazing! Or, you can simply soften it in a bowl.

-- by Joseph A. Blaes, DOS — Editor, DENTAL ECONOMICS