Like a lot of dentists, I have struggled with composite shade matching, especially when it comes to anterior restorations. You know how it goes: prep, etch, place, cure, and maybe even finish…and then think, “Oh, that’s not exactly what I was hoping for.” So, you do it all again, until you are happy to show the patient the result. The whole exercise takes precious chair time, not to mention a toll on your confidence.
I’m happy to say that Transcend helps me avoid all of that. The Resin Particle Match technology means that it has a beautiful chameleon effect, so its Universal Body shade can be used on pretty much all posterior teeth and most anterior teeth without layering. For cases that need something with a little more opacity, like a big Class IV, it comes in 4 dentin shades that also cover a lot of ground on tooth color, and it also has 2 enamel shades. No more trying 5 different shades to get a match!
Patient-Approved Esthetics
It also polishes like a dream, and patients notice. For example, I recently used Transcend on a patient who had a lot of whitening done. Her teeth were beautiful, but she had a little enamel defect at the gingiva of her upper left central incisor with a craze line that went about halfway down the midfacial, and that kept picking up stain. When I suggested restoring it, she immediately asked if it was going to show. I reassured her it wouldn’t. I did a little reverse bevel prep along the craze line and around the defect, restored it with Transcend Enamel White, and polished quickly to a high gloss. She looked in the mirror, gasped, and said, “Oh, it's invisible, I can't see it at all!” That was great to hear, because when patients get up out of the chair and look in the mirror, you just want it to look perfect and beautiful—and it did.
Fewer Decisions, Less Stress
Having a limited number of shades that can cover more of the shade range of natural teeth is also helpful for inventory. With Transcend, I don’t need to stock 10 shades of composite or spend time monitoring to make sure I always have what I need. I can tell my inventory at a glance. It also makes life simpler and less stressful for my assistants to know which shade I want, because they're handing me the same one every time.
Small Learning Curve, Big Rewards
When it comes to handling, I have found that Transcend is a little creamier than some other composites, but I think that dentists who appreciate the chameleon effect, love the finish, and take the time to get used to the handling will become big fans of the material. There's a lot of great composite out there, and sometimes we hear that it's not the composite, it's the operator. However, there are properties of certain composites that help all operators do better, and I think the shade-matching ability of Transcend is going to help a lot of clinicians.
