Product Review: Dr. John Comisi on the benefits of Pulpdent's Tuff-Temp

Dr. John Comisi tells us why Pulpdent's Tuff-Temp has been a go-to provisional material in his practice for years.

Dr. John Comisi first started using Pulpdent’s Tuff-Temp provisional material years ago, and said the material’s interesting physical properties were what first attracted him to this product. Years later, there’s still nothing quite like Tuff-Temp on the market and he couldn’t be happier with the results this material has helped him achieve for his patients over the years.

What are Tuff-Temp’s main benefits for the practice?

Tuff-Temp has rubberized-urethane, which is unique. It doesn’t melt and when you trim it back, it powders. So there’s less of a melting away of your margins on your temporaries. The rubberized-urethane also enables it to be more flexible. It’s not as rigid and wears better against opposing dentition. It’s very stable, it’s very strong and it’s able to put up with the force of occlusion.

Tuff-Temp also offers better tissue adaptation simply because if you have a better adaptation of temporary material to the margin of your preps, you’re gong to get less gingival irritation, less sensitivity for the patient post-op and you won’t  have  to worry about the temporary snapping in two. It has a bit more resiliency because of that rubberized-urethane.

What are the benefits for the patient?

Patients will have a temporary that’s going to have a lot less distortion capability, a much more snug fit, and a temporary that is much less likely to become dislodged between the fabrication of the provisional and placement of the final crown or bridge itself.

It will have more durability and more ability to withstand the forces. It can tolerate most of the typical patient abuses.

Why would you encourage other dentists to use Tuff-Temp?

If they’re tired of very brittle material that will break when they’re working with  it, that’s constantly being damaged by the patient because of occlusal load, if they’re tired of margins not adapting as well with the traditional temporary material they’re using, this is much more effective.

There’s also a light cured addition material that you can add to Tuff-Temp where you need to add more bulk or add on material to an area where you have a void, which periodically happens with any temporary material.

Tuff-Temp won’t gum up the bur when you’re trimming. That makes my life a lot easier. I can get a quicker provisional done. It also doesn’t shrink as much so there’s less distortion.

The nice part is Tuff-Temp is very easy to use. If you have a product that is durable, consistent and easy to use, those are all winning attributes. And Tuff-Temp embodies all of those three things.