The most common challenges in getting a quality impression are adequate tissue retraction and sufficient moisture control. Dr. Dan Fischer, president and CEO of Ultradent Products, Inc. often says, “There is nothing one can do well, in a quality sense, when it comes to operative dentistry in the presence of bleeding.” Along with Ultradent’s world-renowned tissue management products, Ultradent’s retraction cord, Ultrapak® (also the world’s first knitted packing cord), helps to enhance tissue management techniques by delivering the ferric sulfate solutions subgingivally for optimum sulcular fluid control. The Ultrapak® cord is made of 100% cotton, knitted into thousands of tiny loops to form long, interlocking chains. This unique knitted design exerts a gentle continuous outward force following placement, as the knitted loops seek to open. Ideal tissue displacement occurs within one to three minutes after cord placement. Packing cord placement technique also plays an important role in achieving quality, predictable tissue management. Here are a few important steps to follow to achieve adequate tissue retraction every time:

With Ultradent’s recent announcement that the company acquired global distribution rights* to Uveneer™, the world’s first and only composite veneer template system available in the dental market today, we sat down with Dr. Sigal Jacobson, Uveneer’s founder and creator, to discuss the product, its uses, and Uveneer’s recent partnership with Ultradent.

“People who have worked here and then go somewhere else oftentimes notice a stark difference in the culture that perhaps they took for granted before leaving.” It’s a lesson Ultradent’s global director of materials management, Gary Gillette, says he feels fortunate to never have had to learn the hard way. That’s because he noticed the positive difference that working at Ultradent made in his life right from the beginning. “Our core values (integrity, care, quality, innovation, and hard work) are one of the major things that drew me to Ultradent initially. In previous jobs, I never had that culture, but the culture here fits my leadership style so it was the perfect match,” he says.

“Dr. Fischer’s philosophy saved me from depression and discouragement in my field and reaffirmed that minimally invasive dentistry, which I felt was the best way to practice, was in fact the right way to practice,” says Dr. Gary Halko, a general practitioner from Georgetown, Texas. “I now feel encouraged, happy, and content with what I do, and I see a lot of wonderful successes. As Dr. Fischer would say—practicing minimally invasive dentistry, keeping people comfortable with their teeth and the appearance of their teeth, is very rewarding. Rebuilding people’s smiles brings me great satisfaction. It seems to me that I’ve been able to do almost anything composite now. I just love it.”

Integrity. Care. Quality. Innovation. Hard work. These are the Core Values that Ultradent proudly stands for. But of the many wonderful and virtuous ideals a person or company can strive to emulate, why were these particular values chosen? How was the decision to choose these Core Value” made in the first place? In response to this question, Dr. Dan Fischer, president and CEO of Ultradent Products Inc. replies, “If you don’t have a common language, you can’t communicate. Yes, Ultradent always had our vision of ‘Improving Oral Health, Globally’, albeit not yet formalized. I mean, I remember clear back to the beginnings of the company when I was trying to get FDA approval for Ultradent’s very first product, and my argument was always that Astringedent® improves oral health. It makes dentistry better! It provides greater longevity to the restoration and makes possible a superior fitting restoration.”

To wrap up our four-part series, “20 Reasons to Love Opalescence,” let’s discuss some of the other reasons that people around the world love Opalescence® Tooth Whitening Systems. 16. Opalescence Offers Quality You Can Trust The Opalescence and Ultradent names have long been globally synonymous with quality. Our in-house research and development team strives for continuous improvement in all of our products, from manufacturing to quality control. From conception to packaging, right to the dentist’s office—excellence directs the process, start to finish. Ultradent has reached and maintained quality standards restricted to the world’s best companies, such as ISO 9001 and IDO 13485 qualifications, ensuring that all products meet and exceed both clinicians’ and patients’ expectations.

For the past ten years, the people of Ultradent have come together in tremendous and caring ways to raise food and money for not only the Utah Food Bank, but to help support many important and pressing causes all around the world. Most recently, half of the funds raised during our annual food drive went to help our brothers and sisters in Nepal, whose lives and homes were ravaged and devastated by a massive earthquake in the region, which killed and injured many. Additionally, throughout the year, Ultradent supports numerous humanitarian causes and missions at home and abroad by donating funds, dental supplies, and the like to organizations seeking to help improve the quality of life of others—be it through dental care or other important and worthy means.

“There was a time, maybe 15–18 years into my practice as a dentist that in regards to using a caries indicator, I thought, ‘I think I’m a reasonably good dentist. Shoot, if I can’t identify caries then something is wrong with me!’” says Dr. Fischer, president and CEO of UItradent Products, Inc. “Finally, I decided to give one of the caries indicators that were on the market at the time a try and quickly discovered that something was wrong with me!” he laughs.

Opalescence® celebrates a very exciting anniversary in this month—25 years since Opalescence® PF, Ultradent’s premier whitening line, first burst onto the market. Of the brand’s sensational growth both nationally and internationally over the last 25 years, Dr. Fischer, president and CEO of Ultradent Products, Inc., says frankly, “It’s beyond what I could have imagined.” Peter Allred, Ultradent’s Technology Director over Formulations, came to work at Ultradent in 1991, just one year after the advent of Opalescence PF. He’s quick to attribute not only Opalescence’s growth, but the huge international whitening “craze” largely in part to Dr. Fischer. “Dr. Fischer is the originator of contemporary whitening as we know it—which has now gained worldwide acceptance. He is the person responsible for bringing it to the masses. Prior to sticky-viscous whitening products like Opalescence PF gel, yes, there was whitening, but it wasn’t convenient. It was liquid that came in horrible tray systems—and the product would run down the patient’s throat—it was just awful.”

Moisture. It’s the constant battle of dentists everywhere as they fight, on a daily basis, to perform quality, precise work that offers longevity to the patient. This can only be done in the presence of zero to very little moisture, thus, clinicians are constantly looking for effective ways to block and/or slow its flow while they work. One of the “old reliables” dentists turn to time after time remains the rubber dam—a standard, yet polarizing tool that been in most dentist’s bag of tools since its advent by Sanford C. Barnum in 1964. The many advantages the rubber dam has brought to modern dentistry can arguably far outweigh its disadvantages, but Dr. Dan Fischer, president and CEO of Ultradent Products, Inc., says, “It has its limits.” And when the rubber dam has reached these limits, Dr. Fischer points toward another reliable product that is always there to “fill in the gaps,” so to speak. That product is OraSeal.