Trusted Restoratives Make Every Day a Win

The results of this year's Readers’ Choice survey are in, and Dental Product Shopper readers have again selected 3M Filtek dental composites as winners in the Universal, Flowable, and Bulk Fill composite categories, as well as the newly created Favorite Product category. Each material provides a unique and reliable combination of strength, longevity, and natural appearance, making it easy to see why they are so highly regarded.

“I have been using 3M Filtek composites for the past 8 years for a variety of scenarios, including Bioclear and Filtek Matrix cases, as well as core buildups,” shared Dr. Kapish Goyal, DDS, FAGD, who owns a general and cosmetic dental practice in Virginia Beach, VA. He said he especially appreciates the materials' strength and polishability. "Overall, 3M dental composites combine esthetic excellence, durability, and ease of use—making them a preferred choice for modern dental restorations and cosmetic enhancements.” 

Using 3M Filtek Universal and 3M Filtek Supreme Flowable in his practice for the past 15 years, Dr. Steven H. Berk would have to agree. “I would not consider changing materials due to Filtek's ease of use and ability to adapt to the shade of surrounding tooth structure, as well as the incredible resistance to wear,” he said. “These materials allow me to have a trusted product that I know will not only offer predictable results, but stand the test of time.”

3M Filtek: A Restorative Material for Every Scenario

The 3M Filtek lineup includes 3M Filtek Universal, which combines exceptional es­thetics, fracture toughness, and strength to meet the needs of any restoration. There’s also 3M Filtek Supreme Flowable, which features a newly designed ergo­nomic syringe that makes it easier to hold and inject—a feature that many clinicians appreciated during the DPS product review that made it a Best Product. 

When bulk filling is on the agenda, 3M Filtek One Bulk Fill Restorative combines speed, simplicity, and esthetics into a single material with unique optical properties and improved opacity. With excellent adaptation and sculptability, it can fill deep cavities with up to a 5-mm depth of cure.  

3M RelyX: Cements to Rely On

Speaking of dependable products, few can match the reliability of RelyX, especially for Sharde Harvey, DDS, who has been using RelyX Unicem 2 Automix for the past several years. With dual-cure, self-adhesive chemistry, it delivers high adhesion, resistance to discoloration, and long-term stability.

“RelyX Unicem does not appear to have washout, and it has great workability—I can still see it sealing well even after several years,” said Dr. Harvey. “It has incredible bond strength and durability, which I know because the few times I have had to remove a restoration that was cemented with RelyX Unicem, I found it to be extremely difficult! I love using it for inlays, onlays, and crowns; it also does not change color over time, which is a very important factor, especially in anterior restorations.”

And then there's RelyX Universal Resin Cement, which offers superior self-adhesive bond strength to dentin and reliably solves most cases with no need for an additional adhesive or primer in both light- and self-cure modes. 

“The materials are easy to work with, the steps are not too involved, and minimal cleanup is required,” said Nicholas Nicosia, DDS, about this dy­namic product duo. “It is nice to have 1 product system addressing several restorative needs.” 

3M Scotchbond Universal Plus builds on the decade-long success of its predecessor by offering a host of new and improved features, including dentin-like radiopacity, enhanced bonding to dentin and restorative materials, and the ability to infiltrate and seal caries-affected dentin.

“This allows you to be more conservative in your prep,” noted Dr. Taiseer Sulaiman, who made the switch to Scotchbond Universal Plus several years ago.

 “With a lot of the minimally invasive restorative procedures, we’re leaving affected dentin in our preps. You can seal it with this adhesive and it remains sealed, which means any caries or bacteria will die because there’s no source of nutrition.” 

More Favorites to Celebrate 

Solventum's Readers' Choice winners also include 3M Imprint 4 impression materials, 3M Clinpro sealant, 3M Vanish fluoride varnish, the 3M Elipar DeepCure-S LED curing light, and 3M Vitrebond light-cure glass ionomer liner.

“All of the 3M products I use are high quality and allow my workflow to be seamless without needing to worry about the end result,” said Dr. Berk, who uses Scotchbond, RelyX, and 3M polishing discs and IPR strips. “They also guarantee that my patients do not have any postop sensitivity issues, which sets them and me at ease.”