Step forward

For some time now I have been using self-etch cement Rely-X Cem (3M) to cement into place crowns, inlays and so on.

It has been a considerable convenience to be able to eliminate the need for acid etching, washing, drying, bonding, light curing, placing the cement into the preparation of the tooth or the crown before placing the crown/inlay.

I wondered why no one had produced a restorative filling material that would work in the same simplified manner.

Now, at last, a new material by Kerr has made a move in the right direction. Exhibited at a recent Alpha Omega meeting at the BDA, I saw for the first time, advertised as the ‘world’s first’, a self-adhering composite. The product Vertise Flow is a flow-type composite that is applied as a thin layer, <0.5mm to="" the="" fresh="" clean="" prep,="" agitated="" with="" the="" supplied="" brush="" for="" 15-20="" seconds="" before="" being="" light="" cured.="" in="" small="" and="" protected="" cavities="" it="" can="" then="" be="" built="" up="" with="" vertise="" flow="" in="" increments="" of="" 2mm="" or="" less,="" as="" we="" are="" used="" to="" doing.="" otherwise="" in="" larger="" cavities="" they="" are="" built="" up="" with="" conventional="">