Green Envy Impression Tray Cleaner
Whip Mix
Green Envy cleans impression trays and instruments without harming the skin or the environment.
Green Envy, from Whip Mix, removes alginate and gypsum from impression trays without harsh chemicals or toxic compounds, making it gentler for the user, and safer for instruments and the environment. The nontoxic, pH-neutral, biodegradable cleaner interacts with soils and surfaces rather than reacting to them with harsh chemicals, dissolving alginate and plaster residue naturally while eliminating the need to scrape and scour. Green Envy comes in a 2.2 lb (1 kg) jar that can clean up to 500 trays, double the amount of most similar products.
A group of 12 dentists and assistants participated in this Dental Product Shopper evaluation, rating such features as ease of use, effectiveness, and environmental friendliness.
Ease of Use
Instruments and trays requiring cleaning are immersed in a mixture of Green Envy and water for 15 to 30 minutes, and then simply brushed or rinsed with warm water.
The evaluators were asked about the importance of ease of use when purchasing a tray cleaner. All of the evaluators said that ease of use is very important or important. The evaluators were then asked to rate the ease of use of Green Envy. Eight evaluators rated Green Envy’s ease of use as excellent, 3 rated it as very good, and 1 rated it as fair.
When asked what they’d like to see improved, 1 evaluator suggested a larger container, another said the directions “don’t really tell you how often to change the solution,” and a third suggested a different delivery method.
Six evaluators cited ease of use as their favorite feature. An assistant with 21 years of experience called it “fast and easy to use.”
Effectiveness (Results and Cleaning Time)
Effectiveness of Green Envy was rated as excellent by 5 evaluators, as very good by 4, as good by 1, and as fair by 2. The dentist who suggested “making the product so it softens the bulk of the alginate for easier removal” also said it was “very easy to clean the trays after using it.”
When asked about the time needed to effectively clean impression trays, 5 evaluators rated it as excellent, 3 rated it as very good, 2 rated it as good, and 2 rated it as fair to poor. Three dentists said trays took too long to clean. One of these evaluators said they “still required manual cleaning after soaking.”
Four evaluators cited time to clean as the feature they liked most, noting that it “worked quickly on many trays” and “works much quicker than most products we’ve tried.”
User and Environmental Friendliness
Green Envy cleans without harsh chemicals and contains no toxic compounds that might pose a risk to users or produce hazards in the municipal waste stream. Unlike other cleaning products that contain active ingredients, such as sodium carbonate, which can cause burns and eye irritation, Whip Mix says that Green Envy is safer for the skin and leaves behind only a light citrus scent.
Because it is pH-neutral, Green Envy can be handled safely and won’t cause corrosion to metal instruments. According to Whip Mix, the biodegradable cleaner is broken down by microorganisms into simpler, more stable compounds, and decomposes without polluting.
Lack of skin irritation when using the product was rated as excellent by 6 evaluators, as very good by 3, and as good by 3. Eleven of the 12 evaluators rated the manufacturer’s claims regarding environmental friendliness; 5 as excellent, 4 as very good, and 2 as good.
An assistant who cited environmental friendliness as the feature she liked most gave all features a rating of excellent. “I didn’t have to use a mask to prevent breathing in toxic fumes,” she noted.
Overall Satisfaction
Eight evaluators reported that they would definitely recommend Green Envy to their colleagues and 8 said they would definitely or probably purchase it for use in their practice. At the end of the evaluation, the evaluators were asked to give their overall satisfaction rating for Green Envy. Five evaluators rated overall satisfaction as excellent, 4 rated it as very good, 1 rated it as good, and 2 rated it as fair to poor.
A Glendale, CA, dentist who rated all features as excellent called the cleaner “a great product…easy to use.” An evaluator who called Green Envy much better than similar products said, “It made cleaning the bowls and trays a snap.”
