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What do microwave ovens, dishwashers and computers have to do with impression materials?
Dr. Steven Candio of Sparta, New Jersey uses 3M™ ESPE™ Position™ Penta™ Quick Vinyl Polysiloxane Preliminary Impression Material for the same reason he uses many other things that were once considered extra “conveniences”.
One of the more fundamental procedures performed in dentistry is the impression. Dentists, hygienists and dental assistants make many types of oral impressions, including those to be used for diagnostic study models, counter models, fixed and removable prosthetics withdrawal, indexing and final impressions, bleaching impressions, orthodontic impressions, and mouthguards, etc., on a daily basis. While the degree of detail reproduction and dimensional stability differ, depending upon the type of impression and impression material, there is always a desire to have the best impression possible. Requirements for final impressions for fixed and removable devices differ from those impressions used for study models, counter models, bleaching trays and mouthguards.
There are two things all these different types of impressions have in common: impression material and a rigid carrier tray. Until several years ago, the only choice a dentist had for impression material used for study models, counter models, bleaching trays, and mouthguards was alginate impression material. Then Position Penta Quick Vinyl Polysiloxane Impression Material was introduced. This silicon based impression material is automatically mixed and dispensed from the 3M ESPE Pentamix Mixing Unit. This material offers significant advantages over alginates (including increased strength, very long-term dimensional stability, possibility of multiple pours as well as automatic and consistent mixes). When this material was introduced, I immediately purchased it and have not taken one alginate impression in the last four years. I have found that using the Position Penta Quick impression material is much faster than using alginate and requires less time from my assistants.
The slightly higher cost of the Position Penta Quick impression material versus all the older generation alginates is easily offset by the timed saved. I am very conscious of the cost of my time and of my assistants. As I read the directions from one of the manufacturers, there are approximately 16 steps required to prepare and clean up an alginate impression. There are only six steps required for taking a Position Penta Quick impression. There's no scooping powder or hand mixing and transferring material from the bowl to the tray. Plus, there's no powder or mixing bowl to clean. When you add the fact that Position Penta Quick impression material gives you the ability to make multiple pours from the same impression, I know the time savings easily translates into less total cost to use this material. Position Penta Quick impressions can be stored and will stay stable for many months. In fact, for many of the Position Penta Quick impressions, we have our lab do the pouring. When you look at it closely, the real cost of any material use includes not only the absolute cost of the material, but doctor/assistant time required to use it. When taking all of these factors into consideration, Position Penta Quick impression material becomes far less expensive to use than any alginate product.
I use Position Penta Quick impression material for all of my provisional crown & bridge impressions, opposing impressions, study models, mouth- guards and bleaching trays. My patients also seem to prefer it over alginate impression material. It's placed at room temperature and sets quickly, so we're in and out of the mouth fast.
I know there are dentists and assistants out there who think using alginate is easy and inexpensive. They're used to the mixing, they don't really mind all of the clean-up work (it's not like digging a ditch), and they feel that the impressions they get are adequate for the job. They may be thinking that switching to Position Penta Quick impression material not only means they'll be spending more on materials, but they will also have to purchase a Pentamix mixing unit. So why aren't these same people still hand mixing their other impression materials or using self-cure composites? Do we think any of these people use microwave ovens, dishwashers or computers? Sometimes we get stuck in old habits and we forget about the cost of our time.
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