REVIEW: Tray distortion eliminated with Quad-Tray Xtreme, Affinity InFlex and Light Body

It’s great to have variety; it’s what makes every new day different from the last and every impression uniquely challenging. Let’s face it, we have many challenges in performing our job and taking impressions is certainly one of them. Because everyone practices differently it is nice to have options to make our tasks easier whenever possible. Impression taking is one of the more challenging tasks but the people at Clinician’s Choice are doing their best to make it easier.

The introduction of the Quad-Tray Xtreme has caused many closed bite tray users to rethink their current impression tray and procedure. Plastic closed bite trays often flex from many causes, such as biting forces and hydraulics of the impression material, tooth burn-through and the inevitable movement of the lingual bar during swallowing. Tray distortion is often invisible.

Thanks to the Quad-Tray Xtreme’s rigid tray design, this flexure and resulting distortion is eliminated, resulting in a more consistently accurate impression. The versatile Quad-Tray Xtreme, with its low side walls and thin tapered distal bar, make it easy to place in most any situation. Its wide arch and customizable frame can be adjusted to fit virtually any patient. Other unique attributes are the short lingual bar that allows for greater ease of placement and retentive bars that hold the impression materials firmly in place.

Not only is the Quad-Tray Xtreme a unique product, so too is the Clinician’s Choice Affinity 3rd Generation InFlex material, a VPS tray material designed specifically for the dual-arch or closed bite impression technique. InFlex has a slightly lower viscosity, which allows for ideal hydraulics to prevent over-displacement of the light body, yet becomes ultra rigid and stable, preventing tray distortion. With other impression tray materials, the light body is often displaced from the prep site because of a thicker viscosity, which limits impression accuracy. The chemistry behind Affinity is like no other in that the surfactant is grafted onto the branched resin, as opposed to using a free floating surfactant within the impression material that can cause incomplete curing and compromised physical properties. This 3rd Generation, proprietary chemistry allows for 100% curing, which creates a higher tear strength and greater dimensional stability. When combined with Affinity high flow Light Body, the extra rigidity of the InFlex tray material eliminates the distortion that is so common in flexible PVS materials because of its strain in compression of 1.3%. Affinity material also features independent working and setting times, reducing the overall procedure time. 

The Evaluation
The practitioners within the Catapult Group are varied in their views on dentistry, which is excellent for gathering input on products for any type of dental office or clinic. The latest evaluation is twofold with Clinician’s Choice providing its Quad-Tray Xtreme closed bite impression tray along with the 3rd Generation Affinity InFlex and Light Body high flow impression materials for evaluation.  

Interestingly, just more than half of the Catapult Group regularly use a closed bite tray system. Out of the remaining individuals in the study, approximately 15% use full arch trays with the other 30% of the group not responding as to a style of tray preference. Research shows that labs receive one of the various closed bite tray system impressions more than 90% of the time. It is also interesting to see that overall, the Catapult Group rated the Quad-Tray Xtreme as better than, just as good, or tied with other available closed bite trays. One very favorable characteristic noted with the system is the ability for the tray to be modified in width for a more customized fit.  

The group also evaluated the 3rd Generation Affinity InFlex Impression Material, and 95% of evaluators said the material was better or the same as current materials for gingival margin quality, impression detail, folds and fins, tears and ease of impression removal. Additionally 90% ranked the Affinity materials better than or equal to comparable materials for voids and bubbles and subgingival detail.

More than 125 impressions were taken using both of these products simultaneously together and more than 150 impressions taken using solely the Quad-Tray Xtreme. The results speak extremely favorable as to the ability for all users to obtain above average results when using these products.

Conclusions
The ability for any impression material to work successfully is based on the dentist’s technical abilities to handle periodontal tissues and control moisture contamination. Furthermore the case selection process in combination with proper judgment of impression tray use and implementation for each unique case is also paramount to obtaining favorable results. Should any of these components not be taken into account, any product or process has the potential to provide less than desirable results. The highly favorable results and comments regarding the Clinician’s Choice Quad-Tray Xtreme, along with the 3rd Generation Affinity Impression material, make these products something one should consider when selecting new closed bite trays and/or impression materials. With the numerous different options available for taking impressions, Clinician’s Choice has done an excellent job of providing a variety of quality impression taking options to add to anyone’s armamentarium.