Shofu’s Super-Snap^® X-Treme™ Helping Advance Minimally Invasive, Esthetic Dentistry

Fay Goldstep, DDS, is a Toronto, Canada private practitioner, educator, and published author who is among a number of “wet-gloved dentists who write and lecture and are very passionate about dentistry.” She is also among a group of such colleagues who periodically share their feedback from the field with Shofu Corp., which, in turn, seeks to develop products that are predictable, profitable, and promote minimally invasive dentistry.

Goldstep recalls the days prior to adhesive dentistry when aggressive removal of tooth structure—both diseased and healthy—was necessary due to the inadequacy of restorative materials. Materials required bulk for strength, and adhesion was “non-existent.” “Burs and diamonds had to be aggressive,” she explains. “They had to be able to cut quickly and efficiently to remove enough tooth structure to accommodate the replacement material.”

As composite resin materials improved, Goldstep says, efficiency and speed in this arena became secondary. “With strong adhesion and less of a bulk requirement, what became more important was the ability to be minimally invasive, and to be precise enough to remove only the areas of frank disease.”

Today’s restorative materials—including Shofu’s line of Giomers with its proprietary Surface Pre-Reacted Glass (S-PRG) filler particles—have come even farther, Goldstep claims. “They are actually bioactive, providing a stronger mineralized margin, which further reduces the need for aggressive excision, as does caries detection technology, which provides a template for preparation and removal of diseased or unsupported tooth structure,” she says.

According to Goldstep, innovative restorative materials and precise excisional instruments—particularly Shofu’s burs and two-step Super-Snap^® X-Treme™ system—work together to maximize the benefits of minimally invasive dentistry that is also esthetic. “Shofu’s MI Diamonds—minimally invasive diamonds—come in round and pear shapes, with small heads so clinicians can easily access the areas targeted for excision and removal. This means they can go in as deeply as needed while conserving tooth structure,” she says. The diamonds’ tapered shanks, she adds, help provide enhanced vision as well as control in small, narrow, confined preparations, which allows for conservative preparation without compromising speed or efficiency because the clinician is able to take out just what is needed.

As a result of these improvements, Goldstep suggests, dentists can concentrate on what she calls “the biggest bottleneck” during direct restorative procedures—finishing and polishing. “Most dentists are concerned about saving time in placing and curing composites, but much of the time-wasting involves the finishing and polishing.”

To help facilitate the process, Super-Snap X-Treme has incorporated an innovative technology into its original green and red Super-Snap polishing disks. “Their 3-D semi-spherical surface coating prevents secondary surface scratches and clogging, as well as the heat that denatures the material, so dentists using the system need only the two kinds of heads on the mandrill to create the needed finishing and polishing,” Goldstep explains. In combination with a flowable self-leveling restorative like Shofu’s BEAUTIFIL^® Flow Plus—which she says doesn’t require much finishing—most restorations, even in a highly esthetic zone, can be finished with the two-step procedure of using the green and red disks, she asserts.

These and other Shofu innovations, according to Goldstep, are designed to meet the desires of both patients, who want dentistry that is quick, painless, esthetic, and minimally invasive, and dentists, who seek methods that are simple, efficient, stress-free, and profitable.

Goldstep further contends that the strength of the materials and accuracy of the preparations have laid the groundwork for “the best of all worlds,” restoration repair rather than replacement. “If there’s a defect at the margin we can just remove it, bond it, and flow in a remineralizing material like a Shofu Giomer S-PRG filler, thus removing the problematic area and enabling dentists to quickly and easily rejuvenate the restoration,” she says. “This is the perfect marriage of what both doctors and patients want. Because it’s quick and efficient and stress-free, and because several can be done in a short timeframe, it is profitable.”

Shofu Dental Corp.
1225 Stone Dr
San Marcos, CA 92078-4059
800-827-4638
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