In her general and cosmetic dental practice, Susan McMahon, DMD, does veneer preparations for her patients. For these preps, Dr McMahon uses paste to retract the gingiva. Her latest choice, the new VOCO Retraction Paste, has quickly become a favorite for several reasons. In the past, Dr McMahon has used both the gingival retraction cord technique and lasers. She has found that VOCO Retraction Paste stands out.
VOCO Retraction Paste
VOCO Retraction Paste is an astringent paste with aluminum chloride that is designed to widen and dry the gingival sulcus, creating the ideal conditions for accurate, successful digital or conventional impressions. The material is a bright turquoise color, providing high contrast to tooth structure and gingiva and ensuring that the paste is visible and can be easily rinsed off after only 1 to 2 minutes. It is said to save clinicians up to 50% of procedural time compared with other methods and can be used as a replacement for or in conjunction with a retraction cord.
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“When you’re working in the anterior region, it’s really nice to have a product that doesn’t do any harm to the tissue,” says Dr McMahon, whose practice is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “You can retract and get what you need without having to worry about moving the marginal lines of the tissue. You never have to worry, when you get your restoration back, that your tissues have been harmed from your retraction.”
VOCO Retraction Paste is an astringent paste with aluminum chloride. It widens and dries the gingival sulcus with 2-stage viscosity. The first stage has the paste flowing out of the capsule into the sulcus, and the second has the paste’s viscosity increasing to widen the sulcus. The thin cannula tip is said to be flexible for easier application, something Dr McMahon has noticed during her preimpressions process.
“It comes in unidoses with an extra long, thin direct cannula on it,” says Dr McMahon. “So it flows directly into the sulcus easily.”
Another feature Dr McMahon is fond of is the paste’s ability to be rinsed off with relative ease. “A lot of other retraction pastes are difficult to rinse off. They require lots of water, and sometimes a little residue color is left on the gum line,” says Dr McMahon. “This paste goes on nicely and comes off really nicely too.”
VOCO Retraction Paste comes in a bright turquoise color, making it easy to see during rinsing. Each capsule is said to contain enough for up to 3 teeth, and it contains 0.3 g per cap. Dr McMahon stresses the unidose as an important feature in best infection control practices. Each capsule, containing the correct amount of retraction paste, assists in not reusing product.
“It really helps with infection control,” says Dr McMahon. “COVID-19 has changed so much for all of us that unidose products are really important.”
However, its ability to create a fully dry field is the most important feature of VOCO Retraction Paste, according to Dr McMahon.
“Anytime I’m inserting all porcelain restorations that I’m bonding to or around the margins of the gingiva, and you have any kind of exudate or maybe just a little bit of hemorrhage, this product works great,” says Dr McMahon. “It leaves you a 100% dry field; it doesn’t hemorrhage. If you want to ensure that your field is perfectly dry and isolated for bonding or inserting restorations, it’s a really nice product to use.”
Dr McMahon says the paste eliminates certain hassles when scanning, because it rinses easily and there is no threat of an inaccurate scan or image. The high viscosity also allows for the necessary retraction when taking impressions and scans.
“VOCO Retraction Paste does all things. It gets into the sulcus with ease, retracts the tissue, and rinses off easily without leaving any residue,” says Dr McMahon. “That’s what makes it remarkable.”
