Corporate Profiles Ultradent
Ultradent
Ultradent was established in 1979 as a family business in the truest sense. Dr. Dan Fischer, President/CEO of Ultradent, rallied family members to support manufacturing operations in the kitchen of their family home. Focusing on technologies that revolutionized delivery systems, innovation, and patient care, Ultradent grew at a rapid pace. Today, Ultradent manufactures and packages over 700 materials, devices, and instruments and employs more than 1,000 people worldwide. Despite its continued growth and rapid expansion over the past 31 years, however, Ultradent has never lost sight of its mission: to enrich quality of life and improve human oral care globally. To this end, Ultradent has dedicated the resources of its Research & Development (R&D), Operations, Administrative, Sales, and Marketing teams to deliver technology to reach the masses
Ultradent’s mission is to enrich quality of life and improve human oral care. To meet this goal, Ultradent has developed as a global company with distribution in more than 100 countries and subsidiaries in Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Japan. With such an extensive outreach, Ultradent has had an opportunity to implement initiatives that have revolutionized how affordable, effective oral health care is provided to the masses. Ultradent’s mission is reinforced through educational programs for dental students, practicing dentists, prominent dentists, and lecturers around the world.
Ultradent also works to improve the quality of life and health of individuals through donations to financial and charitable programs such as the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation, Sealants for Smiles, and support of individual service missions, to name just a few. Ultradent also established The Diversity Foundation, a progressive outreach program committed to promoting and fostering multi-cultural awareness.
Endodontic solutions through “Endo-Eze Showcase Events”One of Ultradent’s most recent educational initiatives calls for a paradigm shift in the practice of endodontics. Offered as “Endo-Eze Showcase Events,” Ultradent delivers its program to the local dental office where smaller, more focused groups benefit from grassroots training on endodontic technology. The courses call attention to the practical application of minimally-invasive, affordable solutions for the everyday dentist.
How has Ultradent impacted the dental industry?
Ultradent has made the concept of minimally invasive dentistry central to addressing changes in the oral healthcare marketplace. Ultradent supports a “minimally invasive, patient-centered” paradigm, which requires the use of new materials and technologies to reach more humans, providing affordable dentistry with long-term results in mind.
One could easily find evidence of this paradigm in Ultradent’s range of products, from the flagship material, Astringedent, to its newest addition to the Endo-Eze Anatomic Endodontic Technology (AET), Endo-Eze TiLOS™ (TiLOS). An evolution of Ultradent’s AET system, TiLOS is a safe and simple hybrid solution using stainless steel and nickel titanium hand files, engine-driven stainless steel shaping files, and nickel titanium apical files. TiLOS files are optimized for Ultradent’s 30° reciprocating handpiece, offering safe, effective, and predictable results.
The TiLOS system consists of three stainless-steel shaping files─purple, white, and yellow (similar to Ultradent’s AET system), with the respective tip diameters of the active portion (.10, .13, .13 mm) and respective tapers (0.02, 0.03, and 0.04 mm/mm); two hand K-type stainless steel files, #15 and #20; and three NiTi transitional files with an active portion initial diameter of 0.25 mm and tapers of 0.08, 0.04, and 0.02. TiLOS’ hybridization also includes a change from rotational motion to reciprocating (oscillating) motion of the NiTi Transitional Files. The AET handpiece reciprocates (oscillates) the files 30 degrees in each direction, allowing preparation with the same effectiveness as when rotated but with a less aggressive movement, meaning more control and less file separation in the fragile apical area.
The technique begins with the enlargement and preparation of the coronal and middle third (using the TiLOS system) to eliminate interferences and straighten the line of access. These reciprocating stainless steel shaping files replace the familiar Peeso or Gates Glidden reamers that cause indiscriminate cutting and loss of tooth structure. This step is followed by highly flexible reciprocating NiTi Transitional Files and hand files in the apical portion of the canal. By following this sequence, the coronal and middle third allow a straight glide path access to the apical third without interferences, stress, fracture, and deformations, making instrumentation safer and more effective. This also facilitates irrigation, subsequent cleaning, and the placement of gutta-percha with larger diameters.
Ultradent’s unique approach ─“Minimally invasive instrumentation of root canals”Canal instrumentation using AET
The AET preparation technique addresses each “third” in one of three phases:
- Coronal access (using access burs)
- Coronal/middle preparation (using engine-driven, counter-rotating Shaping files)
- Apical preparation (using apical hand files, or alternate engine-driven rotary NiTi files).
The AET preparation technique in the middle third of the canal involves the circumferential preparation of all walls of the canal. This is accomplished using counter-rotating contra-angle, uniquely designed stainless steel instruments known as Shaping files, and Apical hand files. The Shaping instruments used with the AET preparation technique have a square cross-section like a K-File. The tip of the Shaping instrument is a non-cutting safe tip, and is flexible and rounded. It is intended only to guide the file in the canal. The cutting surfaces of the file extend throughout the length of the instrument, with the bulk of the sharper and stronger cutting blades in the upper two-thirds of the instrument. This allows a Shaping instrument to simultaneously negotiate the canal, enlarge the canal circumferentially, and eliminate interferences as the instrument is used.
Although the AET preparation technique uses stainless steel apical hand files, engine-driven rotary NiTi files may be preferred by some clinicians, especially in canals that are very curved. This “blending” of the AET preparation technique in the middle third with existing rotary technology at the apex allows for an approach to root canal therapy that may more adequately address the unique clinical needs in all areas of the canal. The technique is a logical, straightforward sequence of engine-driven reciprocating files, followed by a short sequence of hand filing in the apex to affect a canal shape that is minimally invasive and listens to the needs of the tooth.
TiLOS shares AET’s unique functionality with regard to the packaging system. Esthetic and functional, the autoclavable TiLOS Procedure Packs feature an integrated easel stand, making it a stable workstation. A built-in measuring device provides length determination, and an Endo Stop dispenser in the lid offers on-hand replacements for used or damaged stops.
Seizing the opportunity in fiber post technology
The patented 3-in-1 Unicore Drills afford unsurpassed safety in post canal preparation. The non-cutting, heat generating tiny point on the end of the drill keeps the drill centered in the root as it melts the gutta-percha ahead of it. A novel high-RPM, low-torque (for slow speed) setting can be used. This same design and high RPM facilitates fiber post removal for retreatment should it ever be required. The heat-generating drill tip softens post matrix for penetration and removal. A “Lazy Flute” design scrapes the sides without engaging too aggressively. The third capability of this novel drill is for removing Thermafil. For any clinician who has tackled these before, they can appreciate the very meaningful benefit of this drill for this purpose. The color-coded packaging has been optimized in a “kit within a kit” system to make for easy identification, saving time, and preventing mistakes. The entire module (box, posts, and drills) are autoclavable to prevent cross contamination. And, the drill and posts are secured in foam, preventing mishaps or confusion if dropped or spilled.
The systematic respect for healthy, natural tissue is at the heart of Ultradent’s family of endodontic products. Ultradent will continue to work by the clinician’s side to deliver the materials and technologies for the best patient care.
