Inside My Practice with Bob Margeas

ViscoStat Clear

Ultradent Products, Inc.

Figure 1 | ViscoStat Clear is a 25% aluminum chloride gel that was developed about a decade ago to be a hemostatic product that doesn’t stain tissue, which is especially important in the esthetic zone. If you have a minor bleed or if you’re prepping the tooth and the tissue is a little inflamed, this is a great product. It comes in a syringe, to which you can add a bowed tip and a scrub brush on the end of it, so you scrub around the tooth and coagulate the little bleeders and broken capillaries. It’s great if you are going to seat a crown and you have a minor bleeder. The gel is effective, but it’s the scrubbing action with the little syringe and tip that really stops the bleeding. ViscoStat Clear is what I use the majority of the time for minor to moderate bleeding.

Though the product was designed for the esthetic zone, I use it in both the anterior and posterior, mainly for crowns, veneers, and impression making. If you’re making an impression and you have a minor bleed, the scrubbing action and pressure with the material works the best to achieve hemostasis.

Scotch-Brite® Buffs

Brasseler USA

Figure 2 | Scotch-Brite® buffs attach to a mandrel and are helpful for polishing Essix® retainers, which is a use that nobody really knows. When you cut a retainer, you sometimes get tags. If you run the Scotch-Brite buff over them, it makes them completely smooth. It’s a very unique product that you can buy individually or in a kit for polishing Valplast®.

Valplast partials are fabricated from a special plastic that is sometimes very difficult to polish. I use a carbide bur to remove some of the material and then use a Scotch-Brite buff to polish it and make it smooth. While you can buy the kit for polishing Valplast, purchasing the individual wheels is an option for polishing Essix or Invisalign® retainers. It’s the only product you need for polishing plastics because you can polish mouthguards, retainers, and Valplast with it.

The polishers come in different grits, and they’re very long lasting and inexpensive.

Scotch-Brite®, Essix®, Valplast®, and Invisalign® are trademarks of 3M, DENTSPLY International, Valplast International, and Align Technology, respectively.

Robert Margeas, DDS
In this column, I highlight products that help me practice at the highest level. I am not paid by any of the companies I mention and all opinions are my own. Send questions or comments to rmargeas@aegiscomm.com.