Addressing Patients’ Complaints With Quality Dentistry
CemPower™ from Essential Dental Systems provides efficient and strong cementation for a variety of restorations
Stephen Christy, DMD
Stephen Christy, DMD, addresses all of his patients' dental issues, but he believes that prioritizing their chief complaints and alleviating their problems with treatments that yield excellent outcomes has been key to his practice's success. "I really want to address the patient's chief complaint," he says. "If a patient is coming in for something like a bridge, but he or she complains about a toothache that is in a totally different area of the mouth, I'm going to deal with the complaint. We are in the business of solving our patients' dental problems."
Christy's dedication to problem-solving extends to the dentistry performed by the practice as well. "It's also very important to me that we achieve good clinical results," he says. "In rare cases when a crown cracks or has other issues, and we're only like 6 months to a year in, I'm just going to fix it without a fee. I think those kinds of things build good relationships with patients. It's not about the number of patients that we get but the quality of the work that we do and the relationships that we form with our patients. That's what keeps them coming back. They know that if things go wrong, we will take care of their problems."
Following dental school, Christy began his career as an associate. "My employer at the time was kind of like my mentor," he says. "He was doing a lot of crown and bridge and anterior cosmetic dentistry, and he taught me a lot. It was a really great learning experience." After several years as an associate, in 2009, Christy bought his current practice in St. Louis, Missouri, from a retiring dentist. It had about 2,000 active patients and a well-established hygiene program with two hygienists. He slowly grew the practice, doing a little marketing and accepting new patients, until about 3 years ago when he decided to partner with another local dentist. They renovated the building, adding another 2,000 square feet, and expanded into a 10 operatory practice with five hygienists. "We're a busy, full-service practice that sees a lot of patients," Christy says. "We do a lot of routine dentistry, such as extractions and fillings, but we also do a lot of crown and bridge work, including same-day crowns and implant restorations."
Most of what Christy spends his time doing is delivering same-day, single unit zirconia crowns that he fabricates with an in-office milling machine. "I think we get better clinical results when we can keep it in house," he says. "And at this point in my career, it's kind of fun and really satisfying to actually make the crown and finish and polish it. I really like the hands-on aspect." To place his zirconia crowns, Christy has used a variety of cements, but for the past 6 to 8 months, he has been using CemPower™ from Essential Dental Systems. CemPower is a self-etching, self-adhesive, dual-cure resin cement. Ideal for restorations made from zirconia, lithium disilicate, and other metal-ceramics, it is indicated for the cementation of crowns, bridges, inlays, onlays, posts, and veneers. Christy appreciates how its formulation enables smoother, more precise handling. "When I switched to CemPower, I really liked the way that it handled and the way that it behaved in the crown," he says. "It had a good consistency and wasn't too runny."
Christy emphasizes how CemPower's chemistry, which enables restorations to be spot tacked into place with a curing light for effortless cleanup, is one of the best features of the material. "I like the cleanup a lot," he says. "With some of the cements I've used in the past, it took me forever to clean up. With CemPower, I tack cure it for a couple of seconds, and then I can clean up around the margins pretty readily." CemPower is also indicated for cementing high-strength crowns to implant abutments. "In the rare case where I can't deliver a screw-retained crown, Cempower is great for cementing zirconia crowns to implant abutments," Christy says. "The ease of cleanup means that I don't have to go digging around implants to remove residual cement. With CemPower, I don't really worry about cement retention problems around implants."
In situations involving less retentive preparations, CemPower can be used with a bonding agent for even greater strength. Its proprietary blend of adhesive monomers establishes a superior bond to substrates and demonstrates superior hydrolytic stability to ensure long-term retention. "So far, my main focus has been cementing zirconia crowns, but I have also used CemPower with a bonding protocol to place a handful of inlays that I've milled here in the office," Christy says. "That's a true testament to this material's bonding power because you don't have much mechanical retention with inlays."
Another benefit of CemPower's proprietary blend of adhesive monomers, which is free of Bis-GMA, is enhanced biocompatibility that results in virtually no postoperative sensitivity. "Postoperative sensitivity used to be a problem with other cements that I've used in the past no matter how conservative my preparations were, but I don't see that with CemPower," Christy says. "I always ask our patients about how their crowns are doing at future appointments, and I don't hear about sensitivity anymore. That's big for me. I don't want my patients to have to deal with sensitivity; it could lead them to believe that something's wrong with their restorations."
According to Christy, the greatest benefit of using CemPower beyond its efficiency is its price point. "It's less costly than many of the other major manufacturer's cements that I've used," he says. "I don't base my product selection decisions on cost, but if I like something and feel that it's a good product, then being less costly is a major bonus." Christy has also used other products from Essential Dental Systems and praises the company and the support it provides. "I've been using their products for years," he says. "I've actually done a few lectures on their endodontic files. I really like the organization, and the employees are all really good people. Moreover, the support is great. I've always had really great relationships with their representatives. Any dentist who is looking to improve efficiency and reduce costs should check out CemPower."
Key Points
• A self-etching, self-adhesive, dual-cure resin cement that is indicated for the cementation of crowns, bridges, inlays, onlays, posts, and veneers.
• Allows restorations to be spot-tacked into place with a curing light, facilitating effortless cleanup.
• The proprietary blend of adhesive monomers establishes a superior bond to substrates and demonstrates superior hydrolytic stability to ensure long-term retention.
• The Bis-GMA-free formulation provides enhanced biocompatibility that results in virtually no postoperative sensitivity.
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