Jennifer Derse, DDS, the chief clinical director at Espire Dental, prides herself on creating beautiful temporaries for her patients. Even though theywear them only for a short time, patients still must go about their daily lives, and shouldn’t be self-conscious about esthetics.
“I think one of the worst things you can do for your patients is make a bad temporary,” she says, noting she’s even had some patients ask if they could keep their temps on permanently. “I lecture, and if I were wearing temps, I wouldn’t want anyone to know.”
Patients also shouldn’t have to worry about their temporaries breaking before it’s time for their permanent replacements. No one wants to come back to the dentist for a repair, Dr Derse says. Not only is it time-consuming for the patient, but these appointments cost the provider time and money rather than bringing it in.
To provide patients with esthetic and strong temporary restorations, you have to start with the right material. Dr Derse relied on VOCO’s Structur 2 SC as a workhorse for a long time, but switched to Structur 3 for most cases a few years ago. The enhanced temporary crown and bridge material is stronger and offers improved esthetics, allowing her to create even better temporaries for her patients. The material saves her time in the operatory and gives patients the results they’re after, making it a no-brainer for her group of 30 practices.
The material comes with a long list of benefits you simply can’t find in other products. For example, Dr Derse performs a lot of cosmeticdentistry and full-mouth rehabs, and because of the material’s Wipe&Go technology, she doesn’t have to spend nearly as much time polishing. She also appreciates the material’s fast set time, high compressive strength, and natural esthetics. Then there’s the 1:1 bisphenol A-glycidyl methacrylate to acrylic ratio, which reduces shrinkage and decreases waste—a distinctive advantage Structur 3 has over other materials.
“It’s just a really great material,” she says. “It would be really hard for you to get me to change, and I like trying new things.”
Saves Time, Leads to Better Profitability
Dr Derse uses Structur 3 for anterior full-mouth rehab cases, and says the Wipe&Go technology reduces her polishing time and her chairside time, while still providing her patients with beautiful results.
“You can take an alcohol gauze and wipe off the temporary, removing the oxygen inhibiting layer,” she says. “So you don’t have as much polishing and shining or the need to buff things out. You don’t have to use a gloss; with Structur 3, you wipe it and you’re good to go other than maybe doing a little trimming here and there around the margin.”
The material’s 45-second set time is fast, which is key, Dr Derse says.
“Every minute counts when patients are under your care,” she says. “Their time is as valuable as yours. They want you to be accurate, but they also want you to be efficient.”
At A Glance
Structur 3 Benefits:
- Fast 45-second set time
- Wipe&Go technology reduces and even eliminates the need to polish
- 1:1 bis-GMA to acrylic mixing ratio
- Small mixing tips that reduce bleeding before changing mixing tips, which yields at least 20 more units per cartridge compared with 10:1 and 4:1 products
- High fracture resistance and compressive strength
- Well suited for long-span bridges and long-term provisionals
- Natural gloss and fluorescence
- Color stable for long-term use
- Available in 8 VITA matching shades
Dr Derse has seen doctors pull a temporary matrix off too soon when using other materials with a longer set time, leading to a globby mess and, even worse, the need to start over. The faster set time makes this less likely to happen, decreasing the number of temps you have to remake in your practice.
The Structur 3 materials saves at least 15 minutes per patient, and that’s huge when you think about the number of patients seen each day at Espire’s multiple practice locations.
“I think of dentistry in terms of how much I am doing by the hour and I break that down into 15-minute marks,” she says. “If a product can save me 15 minutes, I’m in.”
Both Strength and Beauty
The material’s high fracture resistance and compressive strength means your temporary restorations will last, whether patients need them for 3 weeks or 3 months. You won’t see any chipping or breaking. In fact, Dr Derse has never had a temporary posterior restoration break with this material.
Structur 3 also features a natural gloss and tooth like fluorescence and is color stable for those longer, more complex cases. And because you don’t have to polish as much to get that shine, you’re able to preserve surface anatomy.
The nanofill technology in the material, which VOCO is known for with its composites as well, creates the beautiful esthetics patients want, even in their temporaries.
“Structur 3 has a more natural gloss because of the nanofill technology,” Dr Derse says. “It gives you a life-like temporary. You don’t get that with most other temporary materials.”
The Wipe&Go technology also contributes to that gloss, quickly bringing teeth to a beautiful shine. And because teeth require less polishing they’re much smoother, making it harder for plaque to attach.
The Right Ratio
Structur 3 offers a 1:1 mixing ratio of bis-GMA to acrylic, Dr Derse says, while most other temporary materials feature a 4:1 or 10:1 mixing ratio.
“Other temporaries have higher acrylic in them so they shrink more,” she says. “If they shrink more, the mixing ratio is less forgiving and you have to dilute the product more to make sure the mixture is accurate. So you end up using more material, which increases your costs.”
If you’re taking impressions, you can use the same gun for Structur 3 because the cartridge sizes are the same, Dr Derse says. This may seem small, but it eliminates any time you might waste looking for the specific gun required for 4:1 or 10:1 products, and that means there’s 1 less item you need to keep in the operatory.
“That mixing ratio is what really makes this material different,” Dr Derse says. “I remember helping a young doctor in one of my practices who had his gun out for his impression material but couldn’t find the correct gun for the temporary material. He wasted so much time, and the patient was watching all of this go on.”
The small mixing tips also make a huge difference. There’s no more bleeding before changing mixing tips, and that yields at least 20 more units per cartridge compared with 10:1 and 4:1 products—and that’s a huge cost savings.
There are also patients who are allergic to acrylic, so using a material that has less of it lowers the likelihood of an allergic responses, Dr Derse says.
“The material gives you a prettier temporary and because of the lower amount of acrylic it doesn’t smell and it produces less heat,” she says. “That’s also a benefit for our patients. It requires a lower curing temperature and that means less sensitivity, and that all has to do with acrylic.”
A Material You Can Rely On
While Structur 2 SC is still a great option for back teeth and single unit cases, Structur 3 improves upon that product with the nanofilled esthetics, the Wipe&Go technology, higher compressive strength and low surface roughness—making it ideal for Dr Derse’s cosmetic and full-mouth rehab cases.
Two case studies are highlighted in the photos within this article. Patient 1 (Figures 1-3) showcases restorations completed by Nelson Rego, CDT. While the second case, Patient 2, features work completed by Quint Whipple, CDT (Figures 4-6).
“We have a lot of volume because of our size, so this material really impacts our profitability,” Dr Derse says. “I don’t want my temps to break. I want them to look good and I want my patients to be happy with them. And it decreases my chair time by 15 minutes. When you multiply that by 30 locations, it starts to add up. It’s a benefit for me as a business owner and also for my patients. They don’t want to have to come back in and deal with a broken temporary. I don’t have to worry about that with this material.”
