Centrix: Making Dentistry Easier
It is said, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” Dr. William B. Dragan, founder of Centrix, might argue that it takes a little determination and marketing as well.
Inspired by the then-new dental composites but frustrated by their awkward application, Dr. William B. Dragan, the founder of Centrix, designed his first invention in his basement and patented the syringe- and tube-based delivery system in 1970. Today’s Centrix product delivery systems have directly descended from that first innovation. It wasn’t a ticket to easy street, however. The first arrivals at the door for this new mousetrap were corporate lawyers, seeking to claim it. But Dr. Dragan persevered to defend his patents, and he won.
From that beginning, Centrix has expanded and evolved, continuing to recognize the challenges dentists face and to develop tools that alleviate those challenges, always staying true to its motto: Making Dentistry Easier. Many of the Centrix products, such as Benda Brush, FluoroDose, and NoCord VPS, focus on simplifying the placement and use of viscous or flowable materials to improve the experience for both dentist and patient. The future of the company is poised to continue its founder’s success. Dr. Dragan remains involved, but Centrix is now helmed by his son, Bill Dragan, as President. More than 140 employees make up the Centrix team, which is focused on the mission of innovating while also helping other would-be inventors develop and market their ideas for improving everyday dentistry. As the company puts it, “We tenaciously strive to improve patient care worldwide by developing unique, innovative products that creatively solve real problems experienced by real professionals, in real practices.”
As part of its vision for improving the dental health of the world’s population, Centrix supports several charitable organizations. In 2019, the company received an award for long-term outstanding involvement and dedication to the ADA Foundation Give Kids A Smile program. It seems a fitting tribute to a company whose stated commitments include “working hard, ethically, openly, and fairly…and have fun doing it!”
FluoroDose
Think there’s nothing new in the world of fluoride varnish? Think again. To make dentistry easier, Centrix has redesigned its FluoroDose packaging with new patented features to enhance handling, comfort, and patient safety. In addition to a single dose of varnish, each LolliTray contains a Benda Brush applicator and has been designed so that the brush can be “popped up” with 1 hand, making removal simple and secure.
Of course, the FluoroDose formula itself remains unchanged. The 5% sodium fluoride varnish has a smooth consistency, fast application, and 5 flavors (caramel, bubble gum, mint, cherry, and melon) that patients love. Quick-drying and long lasting, FluoroDose is suitable for adults with caries risk factors as well as for children. It can be applied as often as needed—every 3 months for high-risk patients or every 6 months for medium risk—and is FDA-approved for treating dentinal sensitivity.
According to hygienist Amber MetroSanchez, FluoroDose “has an irresistible choice of flavors” and is easy to apply, which makes her job “easier and leads to a stress-free application and a great patient experience.”
Benda Brush and Benda Micro
While a brush is a seemingly simple tool, it’s important to have the right one for the job. When applying a precise amount of material to a broader surface, the 1-piece Benda Brush with a bendable brush head is the ideal candidate. The brushes smoothly place and spread sealants, bonding and etching agents, whitening agents, and other materials. Benda Micro brushes are perfect for applying a smaller amount of material or when precise placement is required, such as with selective etching or single-point placement.
Both brush heads can be angled with ease and remain in position without bouncing back. Its chemical-resistant, nonabsorbent fibers are suitable for harsh substances. Disposable for easy cleanup, Benda Brush and Benda Micro brushes are available in 2 sizes and in assorted colors that are color coded to avoid cross-contamination.
Access Crown
Finding the ideal temporary crown and bridge material that is fast, strong, and esthetic can feel like the old joke about wanting a job done fast, well, and cheap: you can only pick 2. Centrix Access Crown bisacryl composite provides all 3 qualities, with a formulation that can be removed from the mouth in less than 60 seconds and hardens to high compressive flexural strength with enhanced color stability and high polishability. Available in 7 shades plus bleach, Access Crown has a unique elastic state that makes it easy to remove from undercuts and nonparallel preps. It comes with SuperMixer mixing nozzles that reduce waste, thereby maximizing the number of usable units per cartridge.
“Access Crown finishes well after polishing and definitely feels as though it exhibits a higher strength compared to other similar products,” noted Ricardo Ochinang, DMD. “The setting time for this product seems faster than other products as well,” he added.
Tempit Family
Not all temporary restorations require the same material, which is why Tempit comes in 4 formulas—Tempit, Tempit-E, Tempit L/C, and Tempit Ultra-F—all packaged in prefilled unit-dose tips for immediate use with no mess and minimum waste.
Moisture-activated Tempit is an excellent temporary filling and sealing material for endodontic access openings and short-term temporaries. Featuring a ready-to-use, single-patient tip that allows placement directly into the preparation, Tempit sets in 5 minutes or less and expands slightly when set to seal out microleakage and bacteria.
“When we need a temporary that is easy to place on a sensitive or ‘hot’ tooth […] Tempit-E delivers as promised.”
---Peter Schott, DMD
Tempit-E features the same benefits as Tempit with the added benefit of eugenol. The palliative eugenol formulation, with its anti-inflammatory and local anesthetic properties, makes it an ideal solution for temporary fillings, especially in cases of reversible pulpal inflammation. Activated by moisture, the material sets in 5 minutes or less and expands when set to seal out microleakage and bacteria. Tempit-E can also be used as a liner in deep preparations.
A light-cured, flexible temporary material, Tempit L/C sets to a firm yet flexible consistency in 40 seconds or less. Suitable for indirect restorations and inlays/onlays, it also seals implant screw access openings. Tempit L/C can be placed wherever sharp or delicate edges may be a concern, such as a covering for orthodontic brackets. It requires no etching or bonding and is easily removed with an explorer without damaging the margins.
Tooth-colored Tempit Ultra-F with fluoride release is perfect for restorations that, although not permanent, still need to last a while, such as fillings in deciduous teeth. Its high compressive strength can stand up to bruxism, and the light-activated formula takes no more than 40 seconds to set.
Explaining why he likes using Tempit-E in his dental practice, Dr. Gary Chike told Dental Product Shopper that the premixed, prefilled tips eliminate any potential problems with mixing while saving time chairside. The fine delivery tip makes it easy to “dispense zinc oxide eugenol directly into a small access opening, and the premixed zinc oxide in a convenient delivery tip speeds up production in a busy dental practice,” he said. Pleased with Tempit-E’s versatility, Dr. Chike said he uses it as a base for deep restorations, for RCT access openings, and as a temporary cement for crown and bridge, implants, and screw access channels. In addition, he said, “Zinc oxide can be used as a cement for cement-retained implant prosthetics [without] the same deleterious effects (i.e., peri-implantitis) as traditional implant cements.”
NoMIX
NoMIX temporary cement is meant for quick, simple cementation of any temporary provisional—in the clinic or even at home. With its fast, dual-setting action, it adheres quickly on contact with water and reaches full strength within an hour, expanding slightly for a tight marginal seal. Excess material can be easily removed with a cotton roll, instrument, or toothbrush. The NoMIX tubes enable easy chairside application, and the remainder of the tube can be given to the patient for use at home in case of a de-bond, eliminating late-night emergency calls or early-morning upset patients that confound schedules.
Dr. Jeffrey Brook said NoMIX requires no mixing, is easy to use, and leaves no mess, which saves him time. “Any product that is effective, easier to use, and faster to use than similar products is what I want in my office,” he said. “Even if there is an extra cost, which I’m not sure there is, there is nothing more costly or precious to me than my time in the office.”
“There are other products out there, but we’ve had a lot of success with Encore D/C and have really incorporated it into our practice.”
—Alan Krause, DMD
Encore D/C MiniMix
Core buildup composites have a big job to do, but often you don’t need a lot of material to do it. That’s why Centrix offers its Encore D/C dual-cure core composite in the patient-friendly and efficient MiniMix format. Containing the same nonslumping, light-activated, fluoride-containing composite as the standard automix cartridge, Encore D/C MiniMix is optimized to reduce waste and enhance maneuverability in the mouth. Its long mixing tip is designed to deliver composite precisely into deep canals and post holes to ensure structural integrity of the finished restoration, while the radiopaque formulation makes the material easily visible on x-rays.
“This product allows you to simply put the cartridge in the C-R syringe and inject where you want it to go. It cuts nicely, too, with less slumping, so you don’t have to overbuild. The entire process goes quicker,” Alan Krause, DMD, told Dental Product Shopper. “The delivery system is so easy, especially with the MiniMix format, which comes in unit-dose form so I use just what I need. There are other products out there, but we’ve had a lot of success with Encore D/C and have really incorporated it into our practice.”
Access Edge and AccessFLO
Centrix has long been a leader in soft-tissue management during impression procedures. In addition to its VPS retraction paste (GingiTrac) and 1-step impression material (NoCord VPS), Centrix offers 2 kaolin clay-based retraction pastes, Access Edge and AccessFLO. Both contain aluminum chloride for an astringent effect while the kaolin clay encourages gentle tissue movement and drying. Because hemostasis is created entirely by chemical means, there is no risk of tissue trauma. Convenient prefilled unitdose packaging eliminates the risk of cross-contamination and is compatible with any composite syringe gun.
Access Edge possesses a higher viscosity, for a firmer clay feeling and ‘push’ to create space as well as drying. AccessFLO has a lower viscosity that enables it to be injected into the sulcus as well as around the tooth, yet stay where it is placed. Both are rinsed away easily at the end of the retraction time (around 2 minutes) for a clean, open sulcus with sharp margins ready for impression.
“AccessFLO has a creamy, mousse-like consistency and flows beautifully,” shared Dr. Ginger Price. “It left no residue and seems to retract better. It is also much easier to rinse off than other products.”
Discussing Access Edge, Dr. Gilberto Nunez said it is very easy to dispense, and the precision tip allows him to accurately place the material into any area of the mouth. “I believe Access Edge is a must in every office,” Dr. Nunez shared. “It will make life so easy for the dentist as well as the patient.”
LolliCaine
Whether performing scaling and root planing, anesthetic injections, or other procedures, clinicians rely on topical anesthetics daily to minimize discomfort for their patients. Centrix LolliCaine is a 20% benzocaine topical anesthetic gel that provides fast, temporary relief during dental procedures or for patients to use at home. Available in 4 flavors (bubble gum, cherry, mint, and piña colada), LolliCaine is individually packaged in convenient, unit-dose LolliPacks (0.3 mL) that reduce the potential for cross-contamination and are easy to send home with patients.
“LolliCaine was fast-acting, had a great flavor, and patients felt the anesthesia provided by the benzocaine was more than adequate,” shared Donna Grzegorek, RDH, who said it relieved pain during scaling and root planing, prior to injections, and from orthodontic appliance irritation. Calling LolliCaine “fast-acting and cost-effective with a great flavor,” Grzegorek concluded, “It was awesome—a great addition to our armamentarium when fast tissue anesthesia is necessary.”
Champ
Every patient wants to spend as little time in the chair as possible, but kids most of all. Champ pit and fissure sealant—which comes in a choice of multipatient syringes or single-patient, unit-dose LolliPacks with Benda Brush applicator—is a quick solution for kids and adults. After etching and rinsing, Champ is easily applied with a single sweep and requires no bonding agent. Its bioactive formulation adapts and penetrates into pits and fissures to create tightly sealed, long-lasting sealants.
Champ’s moisture-tolerant, BPA-free, light-activated formulation releases fluoride and phosphate while sealing against microleakage. One application lasts about 3 years.
Exposé
With today’s emphasis on minimally invasive dentistry, you want to be assured that your direct restorative procedures remove as little healthy enamel and dentin as possible. One tool that can help is caries detection dye. Exposé caries indicators make use and application of caries detection dye simple, mess-free, and precise. The Benda Micro applicator tip of the indicator—available in fine or extra-fine—comes prefilled with dry blue dye that simply needs to be touched to a wet tooth to activate. The dye, which acts by staining caries byproducts, shows up easily by staining active carious lesions. And, because it does not become liquid before touching the tooth, there are no drips to stain clothes or soft tissue.
AccuDose Tubes and C-R Syringes
Since its founding more than 50 years ago, Centrix has been inventing solutions to deliver viscous dental materials easily, efficiently, and accurately. Many of these systems have gone on to become standards in the dental industry.
AccuDose tubes and C-R Syringes and guns were among some of the first Centrix products to hit the market and changed dentistry by changing the way materials are delivered to the prep.
Whatever the material—composite, glass ionomer, cement, impression material, or other flowable—there’s an AccuDose tube for it. Tip types include various-sized needle tips to deliver deep into the canal or prep and PCR tips that can be clipped as needed. Designs compatible with low-, medium-, or high-viscosity materials are available, as well as orange PhotoBloc tubes that prolong working time for light-activated materials. All tube types are easy to load, come with plugs, and are compatible with all Centrix composite C-R Syringes.
AccuDose tubes accommodate the full volume of material needed for a procedure and can be filled from bulk syringes or back-filled. They deliver materials to the corners of preps, reducing the potential for voids. The disposable, single-use tubes simplify cleanup and put an end to cross-contamination.
Snap-Fit Syringe
Snap-Fit Syringe is an ideal solution for the delivery and placement of composite materials. Uniquely engineered to increase hand strength 4:1, the Snap-Fit Syringe is perfect for low- or high-viscosity materials. Available in 6 models, including traditional styles and leverage style guns that require less hand pressure, SnapFit guns are ergonomic and are easy to hold and maneuver. Snap-Fit guns are autoclavable and compatible with virtually every brand of composite and tube-type dental material, making it a versatile, cost-effective chairside tool.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
800.235.5862
www.centrixdental.com
