Product Review
 Speed and Simplicity
3M ESPE asked 105 dentists who place at least 15 single-unit temporary crowns per month about fabrication time of temporary crown materials. They said that Protemp Crown reduces fabrication time up to 50% for single-unit temporaries compared with other temporary crown materials. The manufacturer claims that crowns can be created in 4 minutes or less.
When Dental Product Shopper asked the 7 dentists who evaluated the Protemp Crown for this issue what they thought of its speed and simplicity, they gave it high marks. One evaluator said that it is “very fast and easy,” and another said that it is “very easy to work with.”
Wear Resistance and Interproximal Contacts
In a study conducted by Jones and colleagues that was presented at the 2007 meeting of the International Association for Dental Research, Protemp Crown’s mechanical properties were compared with those of conventional temporary materials.1 The study showed that Protemp Crown’s compressive and tensile strength is comparable with conventional materials. In addition, it had the highest flexural strength
and least wear of all the temporary crown materials tested. The researchers concluded that the material “would be expected to perform well clinically.”
When our dentist evaluators were asked about wear resistance to maintain occlusion, they rated it excellent to very good. One evaluator said that “occlusion maintained nicely.” Regarding interproximal contacts (which were ranked excellent to good), 1 evaluator commented that they were “excellent when used correctly.” Another evaluator noted that “attention to detail is key.”
Ease of Use and Marginal Finishing
The 7 dentist evaluators were asked to rate Protemp Crown on ease of use and ease of marginal finishing. Both items rated well among the evaluators, with marginal finishing receiving good
to excellent ratings and ease of use also receiving favorable scores. However, 1 evaluator did comment that while “marginal leakage is present, [it is] not critical.” With regard to ease of use, 1
evaluator noted that the only problem they encountered was when using a composite core.
Material Handling
When asked how important material handling is when choosing a provisional material, all 7 of the evaluators said that it is very important. When they rated Protemp Crown on material handling,
2 evaluators said it was excellent and 4 said it was very good; 1 evaluator rated it as fair. Overall, the evaluators scored the material well on handling, but 1 did comment on some problems
with tearing in undercut areas.
Packaging and Instructions
Both packaging and instructions received very high marks from the evaluators. One evaluator commented that the instructions are “very thorough” and the packaging is “very easy to use.” Another evaluator said that the instructions are “easy to understand.”
Overall Satisfaction
When the evaluators were asked how Protemp Crown compares with other similar provisional materials, 3 said it was much better and 4 said it was somewhat better. When asked if they would recommend it to colleagues, 5 of the 7 said definitely. Five of the 7 evaluators gave the material an excellent to very good rating when asked about overall satisfaction.
Reference
1. Jones T, Karim N, Winters E, et al. A new temporary preformed curable crown material: mechanical properties. Abstract presented at Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dental Research; March 22, 2007; New Orleans, Louisiana. Abstract 0130.
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