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The new material is designed to ensure strong and esthetic restorations while simplifying the shading process to improve productivity.
For busy dental professionals, a variety of responsibilities and tasks make staying on schedule a challenge. Implementing time-saving products and procedures is crucial to meeting these daily demands and even simple changes can make a significant difference. In order to help dentists increase efficiencies, 3M introduces 3M™ Filtek™ Universal Restorative, a new universal composite that's said to offer a modernized approach to anterior and posterior restorations with a simplified shading process and advanced composite technology to provide strong and esthetic results.
On average, dentists choose to use a single-shade restoration for roughly 80 percent of the cases they perform.* Knowing efficiency is key, 3M simplified the overall shade selection process. Using NaturalMatch technology, 3M developed eight designer shades, plus an Extra White (XW) that cover the 19 VITA classical and bleach shades.1 A pink opaquer was also created to mask metal and stained dentition. In addition, the shades have one universal opacity to meet most clinical needs.
Filtek Universal Restorative utilizes NaturalMatch technology, a blend of 3M’s composite technologies for durability and esthetics. Propriety low-stress monomers are said to reduce shrinkage stress, while the use of nanofillers reportedly creates a TRUE nanocomposite that provides high strength and excellent wear resistance.
Trending article: 3 tips for overcoming common challenges of shade matching
“Dentists are pulled in many different directions every day, with countless to-dos that stack up while they serve their
patients. That’s why 3M wanted to create a solution that helped them cut down on steps and removed some of that stress,” says Sebastian Arana, president and general manager, oral dolutions division of 3M. “The new Filtek Universal Restorative combines a unique shading system in an innovative material that not only provides efficiency but also a highly esthetic and long-lasting result.”
Filtek Universal Restorative also features capsules that can be warmed2 and an improved tip design that's engineered to allow the material to extrude like a flowable composite and then become more viscous for shaping. At 8 mm, the tip is longer than 3M's previous universal capsules, which reportedly enables good adaptation even in hard-to-reach areas.
To learn more about the new 3M Filtek Universal Restorative, visit 3M.com/FiltekUniversal.
References
*3M Internal Data
1. 3M Internal Data
2. See Instructions for Use