Rich Rosenblatt I have come across a great new product from Apex Dental Materials called Clean & Boost. It is a cleanser that was created to remove contaminants from teeth before we bond. Clean & Boost also removes powder from our preps when we are done imaging before we bond the restorations in. Powder removal has always been a pain. Products like Optispray rinses off very nicely but many I speak to still use conventional powder, I spoke with Apex and asked them about it and learned a few interesting things
Clean & Boost has antimicrobial and disinfectant properties. It works on a prep like that of consepsis as far as removing bacteria before we bond. It has detergent properties to help removed handpiece oil and other things that can cling to the prepped enamel and dentin. It is a relatively acidic solution so it will clean and etch both enamel and dentin. When using self etching cements or all in 1 bonding agents that don't require etching of the enamel or dentin, the immediate bond strengths tend to be much lower and we can see staining at the margin. Using this solution and it's acidic nature can help improve that. I know we don't use temps often, but if you have temporarily cemented a restoration in and have residual temp cement on the tooth, Clean & Boost does a very nice job of removing that stubborn cement too. This is a very easy product to use. It comes in a dispenser similar to a flowable composite with a brush applicator tip on the end. Express a bit of the solution onto the brush tip and scrub it into the tooth for about 10 seconds. This will remove the excess powder and condition that tooth. Rinse it off well and dry it and then place your bonding agent as you would normally. If you like to etch the enamel and dentin as I tend to do, then you can do this as you always would at this step followed by your prime/bonding agent. It is an interesting product that helps provide a needed fix for many dentists I meet. It gets off that stubborn powder and will help them improve bond strengths if they decide that they want to stay with a 7th generation bonding agent or self etching cement.
