Achieving Brilliant Direct Restorations
Dr. Lori Trost discusses the importance of handling, durability, and material compatibility in composite restorations
Direct composites are the bread and butter of the dental practice. If you don’t have a composite that you can rely on, these procedures can be frustrating, time consuming, and sometimes create a less desirable result. For many clinicians, Coltene’s Brilliant EverGlow composite has enabled predictable clinical success and high patient satisfaction.
Lori Trost, DMD, maintains a full-time private practice in Red Bud, IL, focusing on esthetic dentistry and a wellness approach to patient care. With a significant emphasis on direct restorative dentistry, she is careful about choosing the right composite. In doing so, Dr. Trost pays close attention to durability, which means the material must handle well. “Handling is the No. 1 issue,” she explained on a recent episode of the DentalTalk podcast with Dr. Phil Klein. Dr. Trost noted the importance of avoiding materials that are easy to place without being sticky or slumping. “We’ve got to be able to work with the material in our hands,” she said. “It’s got to be able to stay placed, whether it’s anterior or posterior.
Dr. Trost has had success with Coltene’s universal submicron hybrid composite, BRILLIANT EverGlow, which offers ideal sculptability and form stability. She cited a recent lingual restoration on No. 2. “It’s one of the hardest teeth to work on, but yet I could get access into it. The material could flow, work, stay put, and cure correctly,” she said. BRILLIANT EverGlow is also lauded for excellent polishability and a long-lasting high luster. Its sophisticated shade system offers three translucency levels and enhanced Duo Shades that allow for a flexible use for single-shade and multi-shade layered restorations.
The dental industry has made great strides when it comes to color shading. “When you can take an A1 or B1 and get it to have a chameleon effect in that space, that’s a beautiful thing,” Dr. Trost explained. “Coltene’s BRILLIANT EverGlow is amazing in the fact that you have translucent shades, different bleach shades, and an opaquer now.” She added that the opaquer is great for situations when older amalgams are removed and there is an amalgam tattoo. “Now you can use the opaquer and bond that completely from that substructure all the way up to the occlusal table. You get a great result.”
Compatibility Is Key
It’s important when placing two composites in the same restoration that they’re made by the same manufacturer, and thus, were designed to work together. Such is the case with the flowable version of Brilliant EverGlow. Based on the same filler technology, BRILLIANT EverGlow Flow combines high stability and excellent flowability in a versatile material with optimal thixotropic characteristics.
“Before, we were nervous about placing any kind of flowables in a gingival box on a Class II because it didn’t have the mechanical compressive strength and it wasn’t always radiopaque,” explained Dr. Trost. “BRILLIANT EverGlow Flow has the compressive strength value, adaptation, and it is radiopaque, so I can be certain that there are no secondary caries and that I’m getting complete coverage.”
Dr. Trost described the two composites as a fully compatible, predictable system. “They work well together,” she concluded. “I think when you start to crisscross and mismatch materials, you just don’t necessarily know what chemistries are linking there, especially with polymer chemistries.”
Using quality materials from a trusted manufacturer is one of the keys to predictability in direct restorations, according to Dr. Trost.
