How to achieve precise firing with the Multimat Cube and Multimat Cube Press

March 6, 2019

One technician’s take on the benefits these furnaces from Dentsply Sirona offer dental labs.

About a year ago, Edwin Kee, MCDT, TE, began testing the new Multimat Cube Press furnace from Dentsply Sirona. The associate professor at the LSU School of Dentistry has tested materials for the company in the past, so when they asked him to do the same for this new furnace, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

The furnace wasn’t ready for prime time yet, so Dentsply Sirona wanted feedback from Kee on what they could improve before the release, which is set for April. The company also will launch a second furnace, the Multimat Cube, at the same time. While Kee hasn’t used that one, he said the only difference between the two is the Press version enables technicians to both press glass ceramic and fire porcelains at the same time, making it a dual-purpose furnace that saves technicians money. The Multimat Cube, while also a high-quality oven, only offers firing.

“I was very pleased with the Multimat Cube Press,” Kee says of his experience with the system. “The oven works really nicely and it’s a simple plug and play. You don’t have to figure out how to use the software since its digital touchscreen interface is user friendly and easy to use.”

Precise firing from a system that’s easy to use

One of the main benefits the Multimat Cube Press offers is its precise firing temperature, Kee says. When pressing a crown, it provides more precise pressings and better-fitting restorations.

“The pressings are fantastic,” Kee says. “You can press really thin materials down to one-tenth of a millimeter with this oven. The temperature for pressing stays where it needs to be, so everything comes out beautifully. If pressing Celtra, there is no reaction layer at all. For example, I pressed a flower with extremely thin pedals and the pressed pedals came out identical to the original flowers pedals!”

It’s also easy to use right out of the box, Kee says. When the oven first arrived, he didn’t have to spend a lot of time reading the directions or trying to figure out how to use the unit. There are no bells and whistles like on some other systems, which just adds the potential for more things to break. Using the oven was pretty straight forward, Kee says, so he was able to incorporate it into his workflow right away.

Top-notch support

One of the biggest advantages of purchasing one of these ovens, Kee says, is the support Dentsply Sirona offers. Furnaces have many of the same features, and often the biggest differentiating factor is the company behind the oven and the support they provide. Kee has worked with Dentsply Sirona for a few years now and says the support always has been top-notch. If he calls tech support with a question, he gets an answer right away, or they’ll refer him to one of their advocates. If he needs a new part, they send it in a timely manner. Dentsply Sirona is a company he knows he can rely on.

“A lot of companies will sell you a product that doesn’t have any support behind it,” Kee says. “Once they make the sale, they wash their hands clean of it and walk away. That’s very upsetting because to get something to work properly you need to have someone there to help you and to tell you why something isn’t working and how to fix it. Dentsply Sirona offers top-notch support.”

The feedback

While Kee was very pleased with the results he received from the system and the support the company offered, he did have one suggestion to make the furnace even better: change the base temperature for pressing. Originally, the furnace pressing program started at 400 degrees Celsius. With the new software update, that pressing program temperature will now be 700 degrees Celsius.

“At 700 degrees Celsius, the oven can open and close at the same time. This allows me to not have to stand by the oven, start a pressing program, and wait for the oven to heat up,” Kee says. “Setting a furnace to 400 degrees Celsius works for most purposes when firing porcelain, but for pressing, you need it to be 700 degrees Celsius when you open the chamber. At that temperature, you can open the oven and press the ring right away. The temperature change cuts down a few more minutes of our overall pressing time.”

A smart investment

Kee says he will continue to use the Multimat Cube Press and would encourage other technicians to invest in this system or the Multimat Cube as well. Kee says Dentsply Sirona is committed to making furnaces that are easy to use, and the support they offer helps to ensure technicians are successful with the product they choose from the beginning.