Thermo Clone's Thermal-Accelerated Set and faster setting time reduce the chance of distortion
"I took two impressions on a patient; one with a very expensive material and one with Thermo Clone VPS," said Florida dentist Abraham Jaskiel, DMD, who takes an average of 60 impressions per month. "By far, Thermo Clone VPS came out super accurate, while the other just made it, as opposed to being great," he said. "Thermo Clone VPS is, as of now, the best material I have ever used in 18 years, with not much effort and fast working time if you need it."
Dr. Jaskiel is one member of our team of dentists who rated Ultradent's Thermo Clone as a Best Product during this Dental Product Shopper evaluation. Specially engineered to produce precise, consistent outcomes in less time, Thermo Clone VPS features a Thermal-Accelerated Set that enables a faster setting time, which ultimately reduces the chance of distortion.
Handling: Flowability
Thermo Clone's easy-to-install cartridges are compatible with most automatic mixing machines. Each evaluator tested their preferred viscosity (superlight, light, medium, and heavy body) and selected the 380 mL jumbo cartridge or the 50 ml cartridge, which is dispensed with a gun. The material's thixotropic properties allow it to flow into interdental spaces to capture every essential detail, including the margin, and super-hydrophilic properties enable excellent adaptation to wet environments.
"I wanted something that flowed better into the sulcus without tearing, and the superlight body worked well in these indications," said Dr. Jeff Peifer. While looking for a material that flowed well into tight spaces and had tear resistance, Michael Szymanski, DDS, discovered that Thermo Clone had "great flowability." Dr. Joe Aviles IV said the material offers "very good behavior, especially for crowns and bridges." David Stall, DMD, called it easy to use, and Dr. Jaskiel said it worked well with saliva and bleeding. When asked about potential improvements for this dental impression kit, Dr. Michael Micallef noted, "The light body seemed to run more than expected." Dr. Michael Micallef noted, "The light body seemed to run more than expected."
Working and Setting Times
At room temperature, Thermo Clone VPS remains malleable, with a working time of up to 1 minute 30 seconds. The Thermal-Accelerated Set begins when the tray is placed in the patient's mouth. As the material's temperature increases, it rapidly begins to set, and this accelerated setting time reduces the chance of distortion.
"It works as well as our other material but with better working parameters," said Dr. Andrew Chen, explaining that it had been hard to juggle the working time and setting time of impression material. After testing the Thermo Clone dental impression kit, Dr. Chen commented, "I like the fact that I have the working time allowed, and once it's in the mouth, the material will start setting and cut down on time our patients need to have those materials in their mouths." Noting that the working time allows sufficient time for accurate muscle molding, Dr. Bhavit Sheth said Thermo Clone provided a good mix of viscosities and hydrophilic material with enough working time to place the impression. Dr. Micallef said, "Thermo Clone prides itself on its setting time and, with a few patients who had gagging issues, it did the trick."
Impression Accuracy and Restoration Fit
Citing "great margin detail" as the feature she liked most, Dr. Kristin Mau said the material was easy to work with and praised the vibrant colors and accurate detection of margins. Dr. Szymanski agreed and said, "The quality of the impressions was excellent [and the] color made reading margins easy." He added that he obtained "crisp clean impressions, even when thin." Commenting that he needed no retakes due to marginal tears, Dr. Spencer Owades remarked, "The combination of heavy/light body makes a great impression," and Dr. Jaskiel pointed out, "For supergingival margins, this material can be better than digital impressions." Noting that he used Thermo Clone on everything from Invisalign to crown-and-bridge and implant impressions, Bennie Clark, DMD, said, "This impression material should go to the top of the go-to list when selecting polyvinyl impression material. I was surprised how it performed on the tough cases I used it on."
Several evaluators commented on the fit of the final restorations, including Dr. Todd Gottlieb, who said, "I just made my first impression, and the crown fits excellently." Dr. Szymanski concluded, "All cases it was used with demonstrated excellent fit."
Overall Satisfaction
Some patients praised the dental impression kit material for its bubble gum scent and flavor, and noticed that it took less time to take impressions. Dr. Clark noted, "Patients loved the taste and short duration that it was in their mouths." Dr. Micallef said he would be adding Thermo Clone to his mix of materials, and Dr. Mau called it one of the best impression materials she has used. "Ultradent has yet another winner to add to its stable of go-to products," concluded Dr. Szymanski.
