Restorative Dentistry Made Simpler with Adaptive Shade Matching Technology

You're listening to The Dr. Phil Klein Dental Podcastfrom Viva Learning.com. Thanks for joining us on the show. I'm Dr. Phil Klein. In this podcast, we'll be discussing universal composites with adaptive shade matching capability. We'll get some insight into how you can leverage these materials to help increase productivity while carrying less product inventory. Our guest is Dr. Robert Marus , a practicing cosmetic dentist in Yardley, Pennsylvania. A member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Dr. Marus currently lectures on cosmetic dentistry and has written articles on his smile makeover techniques, many of which have been featured in numerous national and international publications. Before we get started, I would like to mention that Dr. Marus will be presenting a live webinar on VivaLearning.com titled Creating Imperceptible Restorations in the Aesthetic Zone Using a Simplified Unishade Composite. We'll be talking about that composite, by the way, today in this podcast. That webinar is scheduled for Monday, November 21st at 7 p.m. Eastern time. If you're on the West Coast, 4 p.m. Pacific, simply visit VivaLearning.com to register. The webinar is free and you can earn live interactive CE credit. Dr. Marus, it's a pleasure to have you on Dental Talk. Phil, thanks for having me. This is a little bit of a confusing topic for some of us. So for our audience, just to clarify. You know, there are companies out there that are claiming to have materials, restorative composites, that what they call omni-chromatic, meaning they have one shade and whatever colors that are necessary to make that tooth aesthetic, the shade takes care of it. And we talked offline a little bit about how that's kind of unreasonable to some extent. And now there's a new technology out, a new material, and we're going to be talking about it specifically. It's by GC America. It's really unique, and they focus more on adaptive shade matching. Yes, Phil, you make a good point that to think that one shade is going to match from B1 all the way to A4, it's hard to imagine that's even possible, like one size shoe fits everyone. So here we have a unishade system. I call it shade-friendly, shade-intelligent, and what you're doing is you have five core shades that will match up with 16 of the Vita shades, and furthermore, you're getting all those in -between shades too because people's teeth don't just settle right into the exact increment of a Vita shade. Even if you're using the Vita 3D guide, which is spectroscopy, it's not going to happen in reality. So here you have something that will get you those shades plus the in-between shades, which is a tremendous innovation. So aesthetically, and you're an expert at this, you've written many articles, as I mentioned in the introduction, about aesthetic dentistry. These five core shades allow you to create beautiful restorations. as if you had many more? Yes, exactly. That's the incredible part. Like if I pick an A1, I could match a B1, an A1, or a D2 with that. So it really raises the level of our aesthetic result for all clinicians. It helps everybody at the end of the day. So what's the learning curve on using these five core shades to accomplish what you're looking to do aesthetically? A very, very smooth transition. What I did find is, like with any composite system, being mindful of your dent in shades is important. So if you had a very dark underlying dentin shade, then you might want to maybe opaque that over with one of the opaque dentin or opaque shades that are in the kit. But that's usually not the case. Most of the time, the composite's pulling the color from the neighboring tooth structure, and the result is really, really imperceptible restoration. So for the clinician and the practice, what are the key benefits of having this core shade system that GC America has come out with? Well, straight away, you have less material in the office, less to expire. So you're managing with just a few shades. And conceivably, a clinician can just say, hey, I'll just start with A1, A2, A3, maybe the BW, the bleach shade, and that's going to cover me. Instead of having the full kit from years ago, you may want to have 16 shades. You don't have to worry about that. It's really tremendous in that regard. So it simplifies the whole process. And by the way, we're talking about Genial Accord for those of you who are wondering what this product is. And it really is kind of a game changer in the sense that what Dr. Marus is discussing is that it brings down the time, I guess, spent creating these aesthetic restorations and certainly lowers the inventory. So what are some of the clinical applications for using this? I love to use it in the class four fracture, anterior fractured tooth. It's worked out exceptionally well. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see my handle is Dr. Robert Marus. And all clinical posts and my recent are, of course, of Acord. And even diastema closures, another fabulous application. And then even if you want to do run-of-the-mill class threes, if you want to do class fives, posteriorly, it's excellent. Blends in beautifully out of class one or class two. So it's used anterior and posteriorly. But the real tremendous aesthetic benefit is obviously in the anterior use. So what's the adaptive shade matching technology? Generally speaking, you're going to have a composite that's a little more translucent, in essence. So it's pulling color from the neighboring tooth structure. And years ago, many composites had that feature, but this has really been refined. This has been taken to the next level, where having these increments to work with these five shades, coarse shades. you're really getting a result that blends in perfectly. Now, this is a universal composite, so we can use this posteriorly as well. Yes, and also because of GC's system that they use a uniform particle size on the nanofill, this will polish like a microfill and will maintain its polish. We've seen usually with nanohybrids, patient loses that beautiful shine after a toothbrush or braiding after a few months. This, like with Sculpt, their previous product, it will maintain that polish, which is a great feature. Yeah. So in a few minutes, can you go through the clinical technique of restoring? You can do a class four if you want to go over that or a molar, an MO or an MOD. What is the way that you usually approach these clinically? So if it's a class four and it's something very small, I might just take the shade of the tooth. Let's say it's a B1. Then I can use that A1, which covers B1, A1, and D2. And if it's a very small little fracture on the incisal edge, I'll just use that enamel shade only. And that's sufficient to pull color from the neighboring tooth structure. And it has a little bit of that translucency that gives you the incisal gray at that part of the tooth. If it were a larger fracture, Then I would back that up just like I would with any composite restoration, back it up with the Denton shade or the opaque shade, and then lay right on top of that. Right, and you use selective etching technique. I usually total etch anteriorly on a class four fracture, but I do like to use selective etching when I'm doing class fives. So I'm developing super dentin, as it's called, by not etching that area by the cervical. And then at the boxes of class two boxes of the gingival floor, I do not like to etch that when I'm using a universal bonding agent adhesive like G-Premio bond or G2 bond universal. So when you're doing the posterior teeth or it involves a class two, do you use a flowable routinely? I will use that as a liner. And then at that point, I'll use this product right on top of it. And again, be mindful. I've been using this product about a year and a half now. So anywhere where you have some maybe amalgam tattooing or a reparative dentin that's very dark posteriorly, typically, then just mask that out with the dentin shade. Put a little of that in there. The beauty of this composite is it's going to pull shade from the neighboring tooth structure, but you don't want it to pull any darkness. So if you block that out, you're fine. And that's all. That's an option, you know, to have, say like an OA1 or an opaque A2 shade. I would definitely recommend having that on board. So it seems like, Dr. Marus , we switched from kits that had tons and tons of shades in it that came in these gigantic boxes. A lot of it was wasted. A lot of it expired because most of the doctors were using specific shades that they liked and were leaving over all the other shades. And also it was kind of difficult to manage all these shades when doing a restoration. Then the pendulum swung all the way to the other side where the manufacturers focused on omni -chromatic materials, where, as we talked about, one shade does it all. And now we've kind of swung back the other way a little bit towards five core shades. And GC America has led the way with that with Genial Accord. Is this where we need to be at this time? Yes, that's a great, you really make a great point because I remember buying the large box. And then... To go all the way where I think that one shade is going to match everything, it's a little disingenuous. So here, after the experience with that in the profession, you can see, let's be reasonable and let's say, okay, this one shade will match a group of shades. And I think this is optimal right now. This is a great way to go. It's so user-friendly and kind of has that intelligent shade-matching capability, which is very helpful. So you've used this in a lot of your cases. I know I was at your... presentation in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was a key opinion leader program. You did a tremendous job with your presentation, and I know we stream that live for Viva Learning. So you're using this regularly now in your cases, both anteriorly and posteriorly, for about a year and a half, and you're finding decent success. Yes, yes. The handling of the product is great, too. It's not very sticky. And also a few bonuses, it fluoresces like natural tooth structure. So under UV light or black light, you wouldn't see that lighting up that way. And it has the same polishability, as I mentioned before, and strength and low wear. So you're getting Sculpt, which is a great product, but now you're getting that intelligent shade matching, that adaptive shade match to it too, which is really value added. Talking about the adaptive shade matching technology, how does that help improve practice efficiency? in your experience, and reduce product inventory. It's just that ease of use. Like you're going through the case quickly. You're not laboring over a shade. You're not sure about this. And furthermore, imagine this. And it can happen. Sometimes with Maverick colors, you place your composite and you say, hmm, you know what? That's not right. I have to remove that and change it. Well, that won't happen here. That's the difference. There's not too many companies that are coming out with this kind of adaptive shade matching using the five core shades. Am I correct? Yes, GC really innovates with this. And they're not only a company of extreme high quality, but also they vet the products thoroughly with clinicians. So they listen to the feedback. And before it gets into our hands, it's really been tested and even time tested. You know, like I say, I've had this over a year. Yeah. And the technology they're using, they're still using the full coverage silane coating. Yes. And they're also using that Serismart filler. Yes, exactly. Right. So that combination is still in there. Yes, it's a little less sticky on the instrument, which is very helpful in terms of placement. Right. All this information is good to know. This is how our audience learns about new products that are coming out and why they're introduced. We're not saying it's something that you have to switch to tomorrow, but that transition into new products, I guess as an evaluator, as you are, Dr. Marus, you're always... sent new stuff, right? And they say, try it. Tell us what's going on. For the average dentist that's out there who's happy with what they have, it's good to know about these things because if it could reduce chair side time and bring more efficiency, lower inventory, those are all things that are going to, over the long run, could save the doctor a lot of hassles, stress, and money, right? Oh yeah, it does that. And plus, you know what? There's the fun factor too. Like even if you just got a syringe of the A1 or A2 or the unidose and you just had a little fun with it, that's the thing in terms of our profession is maintaining your interest. And that's really where having new products and innovation from every direction really keeps one passionate as a practitioner. Dr. Marus, thank you very much for spending some time with us on this podcast. We really appreciate it. And you're an amazing speaker. I got to sit through that webinar like I mentioned earlier in Scottsdale last year. There were like 75 top key opinion leaders in the audience. We were all mesmerized by that presentation. It was very well done. And keep up the great work. And thanks so much for your continual contributions to continuing education for the dentists out there. Thank you so much. I appreciate your kind words. Thank you, Phil.