Heavy body impression material mixing made easy

Vinyl polysiloxane impression material (VPS) is the top choice for the best, most precise crowns, bridges and other dental prostheses. Since their introduction many years ago, VPS impression materials continue to improve, producing even more accurate and more comfortable impressions. Now, Clinician’s Choice has introduced the PowerMix™ Automatic VPS Dispenser to prep heavy body material faster and more easily while delivering perfectly mixed, void-free impressions in a jiffy.

“In my opinion, you want a heavy body that’s not going to drift,” says Robert A. Lowe, DDS, who practices in Charlotte, North Carolina.

But timing and handling issues are persistent challenges in creating perfect, bubble-free impressions with no voids or distortion. To date, extrusion of putty-like heavy body VPS materials has been tough to control from tabletop mixers, which are typically shaped like an injector gun or machine. As heavy body must be mixed just prior to use, timing and placement of machines have presented further challenges, limiting impression treatments to specific rooms where the mixer is located or investing in multiple machines in order to have one for every treatment room.

Clinician’s Choice has solved these issues with its lightweight (two pounds) volume mixer, which is designed to perfectly mix the heavy body impression materials instantaneously and easily, on the spot. Without hand pumping, heavy body material is loaded into the tray in as little as 15 seconds.

Related reading: The top 3 mistakes dental professionals make when taking traditional impressions

“The PowerMix dispenser is completely portable, easy to use by anyone in the office and is much more cost-effective because you only need one mixer for the whole office,” Dr. Lowe says. “I’ve always been a fan of volume mixers, but the majority of volume mixers are designed to sit up on a counter. They’re pretty big, and I needed one in every room, whereas the PowerMix dispenser is portable, easy to use and much more cost-effective.”

He notes that the size and cordless functionality are also key benefits.

“My assistant operates ours, as it’s smaller than traditional power mixers and operable by holding it in one hand,” Dr. Lowe says. “By simply holding down the button on the dispenser, the heavy body material is prepared consistently with the exact right mix and is done so in an instant. I really like that it gives a predictable result time and time again.It also saves time, as I can work on injecting the light body material while my assistant prepares the heavy body material at the same time, in advance of both materials mixing to form the dental impression.”

It’s much easier to operate than older forced extrusion setups and offers versatility because you can use the dispenser with one hand to load the material into the tray with the other, or you can place it on a small tabletop stand for additional stability and precision while filling the tray, he adds.

“The versatility makes it different than every other model I’ve seen,” Dr. Lowe says.

The PowerMix Automatic VPS Dispenser is specifically designed to have a long battery life and a large capacity so it can be used repeatedly throughout the day. When fully charged (solid green light), it has the ability to dispense eight full 120 mL cartridges - up to 24 full-arch impressions - before needing to be recharged, and it requires no servicing or maintenance by the user.

Each 120 mL PowerMix cartridge holds enough impression material to fill three full-arch trays or six to 10 quadrant impression trays. PowerMix cartridges are designed to reduce plastic waste and minimize impression material being left in the cartridge.