Three things everyone talked about
Every stand had a bioactive material, every adhesive came in one bottle, and every milling machine was smaller than last year's. Whether any of it changes what happens at the chair on a Tuesday is another question.
Bioactive, meaning what?
The word covers everything from a glass ionomer that releases fluoride to a composite with a calcium silicate filler. Ask the representative what the material does to a demineralised lesion, and how that was measured.
One bottle
Universal adhesives have reached the point where the etch mode is a choice and the result is predictable in all three. The remaining question is the shelf life of the opened bottle.
- Self-etch for dentine, selective etch for enamel: still the advice.
- Shake the bottle. The solvent separates.
- Replace it at the date on the label, not when it runs out.
Milling at the chair
A single-visit crown is no longer a demonstration. The practices doing it well are the ones that scan every preparation whether or not they mill it, so the scan is routine by the time the mill arrives.
