Featuring the same highly regarded physical properties and excellent clinical performance as its original nanocomposite offering, 3M ESPE now introduces Filtek™ Supreme Plus Universal Restorative – showcasing an optimized shading system, which delivers highly esthetic results that more accurately match natural tooth color.
Clinicians have long appreciated the range of shades and opacities, excellent polish retention and universal indications offered by Filtek Supreme Universal Restorative. With Filtek Supreme Plus Universal Restorative, 3M ESPE has built on this success and created a restorative that makes excellent esthetic results even easier to obtain – while still maintaining the benefits that patented nanotechnology processes have delivered.
“We analyzed LAB color of several A3 composites on the market and found very little consistency, and in some instances, some major differences,” said Jon Fundingsland, Scientific Affairs Manager, 3M ESPE. “That’s why we have worked with leading clinicians in the U.S. and Europe to optimize the shading system in Filtek Supreme Plus universal restorative – to make it easier to achieve better esthetic results with single- or multi-shade techniques.”
The new nanocomposite also features one additional shade – Clear Translucent (CT) – allowing dentists to add depth to lighter, multi-shade restorations.
Filtek Supreme Plus Universal Restorative represents a major improvement to the premier nanocomposite on the market. Since its introduction almost three years ago, Filtek Supreme Universal Restorative, using patented and proprietary nanotechnology, has delivered excellent clinical results. Today, the optimized shading system in Filtek Supreme Plus universal restorative helps create restorations that are virtually undetectable against natural tooth color.
The nanosized filler particles used in Filtek Supreme Plus universal restorative allow for the polishability and polish retention typical of a microfill, yet also provide the excellent handling, strength and wear properties that are needed for universal indications. The unique range of shades and opacities allows for excellent results with either single- or multi-shade restorations. The new restorative now is available in 35 shades and four opacities – dentin, enamel, body and translucent.
Filtek Supreme Plus universal restorative leads 3M ESPE’s line of nanotechnology restoratives, where two fillers – nanoparticles and nanoclusters – are used to achieve a combination of strength and esthetics beyond what current restoratives offer. The nanoparticles are individual filler particles, either 20 or 75 nm in size (0.02 or 0.075 microns, respectively). Nanoclusters are loosely agglomerated collections or clusters of nanoparticles.
The combination of nanoparticles and nanoclusters give 3M™ ESPE™ Filtek™ Supreme Plus Universal Restorative the edge over hybrid composites in polish and polish retention. In restoratives, the smaller the particle size, the better the polishability. The average particle size of fillers in microhybrids is 0.4 to 0.6 microns. As these materials are abraded, the surface smoothness is reduced by filler particles protruding from the surface and by loss of filler particles, producing pits. This irregular surface results in a loss of reflectivity noticed visually as a loss in polish or gloss. In Filtek Supreme Plus universal restorative, however, the nanoparticles of the cluster, not the entire cluster, wear away during abrasion.
Moreover, the combination of nanoparticles and nanoclusters allows for high filler loading and thus the high strength of hybrids and microhybrids with superior handling characteristics.