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“I’ve been practicing dentistry for 22–23 years now,” says Dr. Nick Devani of Premier Smiles Dentistry in Cypress, California.
“Class II restorations, in general, are the toughest thing that dentists have to deal with. They’re the hardest thing, in my opinion, because getting that contact just perfect is really a pain in the neck sometimes.” He continues, “When I first graduated, there were no sectional matrix systems. It was only tofflemire. That’s all we had. The biggest problem with using a tofflemire—and I used one for about 15 to 16 years, is that getting a nice, broad contact was always really tough. You’d get a pin contact, and a lot of times, that wasn’t enough. Patients would then complain about getting food impacted, about how their floss would go right through, and a lot of times we had to re-do those restorations to try and get a broader contact. So, over time, using tofflemire became very inefficient. According to industry averages, redoing a Class II restoration can cost $345 dollars in time and materials (data on file), not to mention the cost of a lost patient.
“I basically had a reawakening one day and said, ‘You know, there’s got to be a better way to do this. I saw the sectional matrices being advertised and I started thinking about that. Then, lo and behold, my Ultradent rep came into the office and we discussed the Triodent® V3 Sectional Matrix System™. She explained the benefits of the system and how much more efficient it was than the tofflemire, so I took a chance! I took a leap of faith and I haven’t looked back since.”
Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System
Courtesy of Dr. Jason Smithson
Quadrant dentistry using the
Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System
He adds, “Polishing is easy. The matrices—they’re sectional matrices, they’re different sizes, and some of them are even color-coded so you can easily pick up the one you need and know exactly which tooth to put the matrices on.”
Dr. Devani says, “The V3 Ring, which is the actual brain of the system, fits perfectly around the tooth and you get a perfect seal. The main thing is that you have to make sure that the V3 Ring and the matrix form a nice curve on the adjacent tooth. As long as you’ve got that, it’s a no brainer. You’ve got an ideal contact—a broad contact, every time.
“The other thing I like is that the way the matrices are the curved at the top allows you to get a great marginal ridge. You don’t need to build your marginal ridge. It’s already there when you take the matrix off.”
Triodent’s matrices have a built-in marginal
ridge allowing the dentist to create natural contours
Anatomical Wave-Wedges provide an
excellent seal at the gingival margin
Dr. Devani also comments on the efficiency and ease-of-use of the Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System, “You know exactly what band to use when you’re using a pre-molar, what band to use when you’re doing a molar, what ring to use when you’re doing a pre-molar or molar. My assistants know exactly what to do. It’s very easy to use, it’s very quick to use, it’s very quick to put on and very quick to take off, and I don’t have to worry about the openness of my contacts or if the marginal ridge is too thin and going to break when they [the patients] are eating. I don’t have those worries anymore. Now I can do two or three back-to-back Class II restorations in a short amount of time because not only am I not using the tofflemire anymore, but I don’t have to do a lot of polishing and adjusting either! The way the matrix is designed—I get my marginal ridge and everything when I’m done. It saves me time. I’m more efficient. I don’t remember one patient coming back and saying they have an open contact since using this system.”
He concludes
“Class II restorations, in general, are the toughest thing that dentists have to deal with. They’re the hardest thing, in my opinion, because getting that contact just perfect is really a pain in the neck sometimes.” He continues, “When I first graduated, there were no sectional matrix systems. It was only tofflemire. That’s all we had. The biggest problem with using a tofflemire—and I used one for about 15 to 16 years, is that getting a nice, broad contact was always really tough. You’d get a pin contact, and a lot of times, that wasn’t enough. Patients would then complain about getting food impacted, about how their floss would go right through, and a lot of times we had to re-do those restorations to try and get a broader contact. So, over time, using tofflemire became very inefficient. According to industry averages, redoing a Class II restoration can cost $345 dollars in time and materials (data on file), not to mention the cost of a lost patient.
Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System
Dr. Devani continues,
“It’s a completely different system, but I think Triodent, to their credit, has made it very streamlined. It’s a no-brainer. If you do three to four restorations with Triodent I think that’s all you’ll need to get the hang of it. I do quadrant dentistry so I do back to back a lot of times and it’s made it so much more efficient. I get good contacts every time.”
Courtesy of Dr. Jason Smithson
Quadrant dentistry using the
Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System
He adds, “Polishing is easy. The matrices—they’re sectional matrices, they’re different sizes, and some of them are even color-coded so you can easily pick up the one you need and know exactly which tooth to put the matrices on.”
Dr. Devani says, “The V3 Ring, which is the actual brain of the system, fits perfectly around the tooth and you get a perfect seal. The main thing is that you have to make sure that the V3 Ring and the matrix form a nice curve on the adjacent tooth. As long as you’ve got that, it’s a no brainer. You’ve got an ideal contact—a broad contact, every time.
“The other thing I like is that the way the matrices are the curved at the top allows you to get a great marginal ridge. You don’t need to build your marginal ridge. It’s already there when you take the matrix off.”
Triodent’s matrices have a built-in marginal
ridge allowing the dentist to create natural contours
He muses, “The other thing I like is the Wave-Wedge™, which is very kind to the gums. The wooden wedges that I used with the tofflemire system—every time you’d take that wooden wedge out, the whole area would bleed. With the Wave-Wedge, the wedges are designed to kind of tuck and hold the tissue down while they go in, and there’s no bleeding. So, you take the wedge out, there’s no bleeding, and you can polish up really easily.”
Anatomical Wave-Wedges provide an
excellent seal at the gingival margin
Dr. Devani also comments on the efficiency and ease-of-use of the Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System, “You know exactly what band to use when you’re using a pre-molar, what band to use when you’re doing a molar, what ring to use when you’re doing a pre-molar or molar. My assistants know exactly what to do. It’s very easy to use, it’s very quick to use, it’s very quick to put on and very quick to take off, and I don’t have to worry about the openness of my contacts or if the marginal ridge is too thin and going to break when they [the patients] are eating. I don’t have those worries anymore. Now I can do two or three back-to-back Class II restorations in a short amount of time because not only am I not using the tofflemire anymore, but I don’t have to do a lot of polishing and adjusting either! The way the matrix is designed—I get my marginal ridge and everything when I’m done. It saves me time. I’m more efficient. I don’t remember one patient coming back and saying they have an open contact since using this system.”
He concludes
“We want to provide the best service to our patients. That’s first and foremost of everything we do. We don’t want headaches or problems for our patients, and as a dentist, in order to do that, you have to stay ahead of the curve. I think practicing with a tofflemire in 2017 is kind of behind the curve in most cases. All dentists need a sectional matrix system in their office for better contacts. If you’re depending on a tofflemire for all your cases with all your patients, I think you’re failing your patients. That’s just my personal opinion. If you want to do what’s best for your patient, I think it’s well worth it to invest the time in a system like the Triodent V3 Sectional Matrix System.”
