Pulpdent’s Crysta MCP Technology Facilitates Bio-interactivity, Remineralization

Over the course of his 34-year career practicing general dentistry, John C. Comisi, DDS, MAGD, became enthralled in mechanisms involved with dental materials and their interaction with the oral cavity and dental structure. Now, as an associate professor of restorative dentistry at the Medical University of South Carolina, he teaches students what to look for in products and procedures that can make their results more predictable and positive.

"We have at our disposal marvelous bio-interactive materials that can help achieve beneficial, longer-lasting restorations," says the former Ithaca, New York, dentist.

One such innovation, Comisi asserts, is Crysta, a newly patented MCP (methacrylate-functionalized calcium phosphate) technology from Pulpdent.

"Crysta is important in the advancement of bio-interactive materials," he states, explaining that Crysta is the trade name for an MCP molecule that acts as a precursor for essential nucleation sites at the tooth-restorative interface. "These sites," he says, "attract and bind calcium and phosphates in the oral environment, enabling bio-mineralization to occur."

Essentially, Crysta facilitates the remineralization of damaged tooth tissue caused by dental caries, according to Comisi. Additionally, it does so in a way that can provide long-term resistance to secondary decay caused by marginal leakage and bacterial incursion.

"When caries progresses beyond enamel and invades dentin, no quantity of fluoride is going to remineralize it. Dentin is collagenous-not crystalline, as enamel is. It requires a very different remineralization mechanism," Comisi says. "That's when Crysta-containing dental materials can elicit the physical and functional repair of demineralized dentin."

Crysta, Comisi continues, has a mineralizing effect and can seal margins via ion release and calcium phosphate precipitation. Also, Crysta's ion-releasing ability leads to a significant reduction in proteolytic enzyme reactions from bonding procedures. Such reactions can lead to failure of traditional composite restorations, but ions are able to "turn off" the proteolytic response and enhance the long-term bond strength of restorations.

Pulpdent's bio-interactive materials with Crysta follow standard clinical procedures, although Comisi advises that, as with any product, clinicians follow the instructions for use. Pulpdent's Activa Presto universal composite with Crysta, he notes, is an easy-to-use injectable, stackable material with elevated esthetics. Its working delivery properties are similar to flowable materials. He suggests the following workflow: isolate the area being treated; selective-etch or total-etch the tooth; apply a bonding agent as instructions indicate; place 2 mm increments of Activa Presto into the preparation; and light-cure for 20 seconds. "Then, repeat until you have completed the restoration."

The long-time practitioner and current instructor of restorative dentistry knows a breakthrough product when he sees one. "Crysta MCP technology gives clinicians the real chance to help restore teeth back to form and function and achieve successful long-term results," Comisi says.

John C. Comisi, DDS, MAGD
Associate Professor, College of Dental Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Pulpdent
800-343-4342
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