Imperius Dental Laboratory Ltd. - Dental Prosthetics, Dental Laboratories, Orthodontic, Denture, Cast Partial, Crown & Bridge, Implants

Do you have patients who require the stability and wear factor of a hard night guard but simply cannot tolerate it?

There is an alternative!

New Thermoplastics Solve Patient Comfort Problems

Prescribing interocclusal treatment appliances is not a problem - providing an appliance that a patient will actually wear often is. Although nightguards and occlusal splints have long been a necessary part of many dental practices, materials for these types of appliances have often been difficult to adjust and certainly difficult for patients to wear. In fact, many patients have simply refused to wear such appliances due to discomfort.

Due to advances in thermoplastic materials and laboratory techniques, it is now possible to improve compliance by providing patients with appliances that are light and comfortable yet highly durable. Thermo - Guard is representative of such advances. Used primarily in the fabrication of nightguards and occlusal splints, This appliance is a unique thermoplastic material that is flexible enough for TMD appliances yet hard and durable enough to withstand nocturnal bruxing.

The flexibility of thermoplastic materials such as Thermo-Guard results in appliances that are extremely gentle on soft tissue, thus maximizing patient comfort. At the same time, such flexibility gives these materials exceptional shock strength. For dentists who prescribe nightguards for patients who have undergone extensive cosmetic work, the combination of gentleness and strength found in the new materials makes them particularly effective for appliances designed to protect natural dentition from the wear caused by some of the harder restorative materials used in cosmetic dentistry.

In the past, materials were often clear upon delivery to the dental office, making occlusal adjustments, if required, problematic. Today there are some thermoplastics, Thermo-Guard in particular, that remain cloudy for 1-2 weeks before turning clear. This initial opacity renders the ink of occlusal marking paper more visible which facilitates chairside adjustments. Materials like Thermo-Guard, however, require little to no adjustments, thus saving doctors valuable chairtime.

Although as experienced dental technicians we have been fabricating interocclusal appliances for many years, we are now seeing vast improvements in the properties of the materials we use. The new materials and techniques allow us to fabricate appliances with greater confidence that our doctors and their patients will be satisfied with the result.