The "Message in a Bottle Mailbag" is a monthly feature of the e-newsletter, Pearls for Your Practice: The Product Navigator. Each month, Editorial Director Joshua Austin, DDS, FAGD, answers reader-submitted questions to help you navigate your dental product decisions (and more!). This month, he responds to a question about composite systems with Vita 3D-Master shades, explains how anesthetic buffering systems are different from injecting sodium bicarbonate into the anesthetic carpule, and—ouch—reacts to a question about the Toronto Blue Jays defeat of the Texas Rangers.
Question:
Javier from Phoenix asked: Why don’t any composite systems come in Vita 3D-Master shades?
Answer:
Great question, Javier. Honestly, it's a question that I don’t have a hard answer for. I asked the same question about eight years ago and figured that at some point, someone would have jumped into that market, but alas, it hasn’t happened. It would be convenient; I would like to be rid of the Vita Classic Shade Guide forever. It’s a flawed system compared to the Vita 3D-Master Shade Guide, which has equally distributed shades. There might be a chemistry issue or something that prevents it—but not that I know of. My only thought is that the dental companies are afraid of some pushback because it would be such a big shift.
Interestingly enough, Vit-l-escence (Ultradent Products Inc.) has a bunch of non-Vita shades, as well as some Vita shades. Filtek Supreme Ultra (3M Oral Care) is similar. It is definitely Vita Classic–based but contains plenty of other shades, such as CT and Bleach White.
What a great question. I will try to shake some trees with my contacts at some companies to get a better answer for you!
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Garrett from New York wrote: I saw your buffering anesthetic video. How is this different from just injecting some sodium bicarbonate into the anesthetic carpule?
Answer:
Thanks for the question, Garrett! Certainly, plenty of clinicians have been doing it your way for a long time. They have a vial of sodium bicarbonate. They shoot a little anesthetic out of the carpule to make some space, and then they inject some sodium bicarbonate into the carpule, resulting in a carpule with both lidocaine and sodium bicarbonate inside.
The real answer is that the Anutra Medical Dental Anesthetic Buffering System (or any of the other systems available) can make it easier and more predictable. The system does all of the calculations for you, so you always get the right mixture of buffered anesthetic. With the Anutra system, you can also draw up more than one carpule’s worth of buffered anesthetic if you want, minimizing the number of injections you have to give. Buffering anesthetic is definitely a paradigm shift, but many who are doing it swear by it!
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Question:
Jim from Buffalo wrote: How about that ALDS?! Go Blue Jays!
Answer:
I have no idea what you are even talking about, Jim. What is an ALDS? Who are these Blue Jays? I am not really into bird watching. Sorry, Jim. Wound is too fresh. Can’t talk about it yet. As for now, I will join the rest of the United States in rooting for the Cubs.
Editor's note: Do you have a question for Dr. Austin? Is there a product you'd like to see him review? Or would you like to submit your own "Pearl"? Send an email to [email protected]. You might just see it in the e-newsletter, Pearls for Your Practice: The Product Navigator! If you're not a Product Navigator subscriber, click here to sign up.
More reading
October 2016 | Gutta percha removal and the single-cone technique, loupes, Super Bowl predictions
September 2016 | Universal bonding agents, shade guides
August 2016 | Jiffy Universal, sectional matrix systems, Kevin Durant
