Zest Chairside Light Cure Acrylic Kit

The liquid monomer used to chemically cure autopolymerizing denture material can cause patient discomfort, including bad taste and a burning sensation. In addition, autopolymerizing resins can be time consuming with slow set times. Zest Anchors recently introduced their Chairside Light Cure Acrylic Kit for dental attachments to address some of these issues. According to the manufacturer, light curing allows the dentist to incorporate the attachment components into removable partial dentures and overdentures with increased accuracy and patient comfort. Nine dentists participated in Dental Product Shopper’s evaluation of the Chairside Light Cure Acrylic Kit. They rated the product on such things as ease of use, curing hardness, chair-time savings, and patient comfort.

Ease of Use

Zest Anchors describes the technique for using Chairside Light Cure Acrylic as fast and easy. Chairside Light Cure Acrylic is packaged in lighttight syringes that allow users to control the exact placement of the pickup resin. They paint the resin curing primer exactly where they want the light cure material to bond. The material will bond only where the primer is placed. According to the manufacturer, the material is easily peeled off in areas where primer has not been placed. The resin is then injected through an access channel in the flange of the denture base to fill the attachment housing. The curing light probe is placed against the access channel to polymerize the resin. When the evaluators were asked to rate the ease of use of Chairside Light Cure Acrylic compared to conventional mixed powder/liquid chemically cured acrylic denture resin, 4 rated it as excellent, 4 rated it as very good, and 1 rated it as good. One evaluator said that he felt the material “does not flow well.” Another evaluator said, “Anytime my assistant or I don’t have to mix a product, it’s a real time saver.”

Curing Hardness and Secure Bond

The dentists who participated in this evaluation were asked how important curing hardness and secure bonding are when purchasing acrylic resin materials. All the evaluators said curing hardness and secure bonding are very important to important. When the evaluators were asked to rate the curing hardness of Chairside Light Cure Acrylic, 5 rated it as excellent, 3 rated it as very good, and 1 rated it as good. With regard to secure bond, 3 evaluators rated Chairside Light Cure Acrylic as excellent, 5 rated it as very good, and 1 rated it as good.

Chairtime Savings

According to Zest Anchors, Chairside Light Cure Acrylic eliminates mixing and waiting time for the material to set. When the evaluators were asked to rate the chairtime savings they experienced with Chairside Light Cure Acrylic, 5 rated it as excellent, 3 rated it as very good, and 1 rated it as good. One evaluator said, “1 minute versus 5! Wow!”

Patient Comfort

All the evaluators said that patient comfort is very important to important to them when purchasing a chairside acrylic resin material. When asked to rate patient comfort when using Chairside Light Cure Acrylic, 6 evaluators rated it as excellent and 3 rated it as very good. One evaluator said the he received “no complaints of heat or taste.”

Overall Satisfaction

When the evaluators were asked if they would recommend the Chairside Light Cure Acrylic Kit to their colleagues, all said definitely or probably. When asked if they would purchase it in the future, 8 evaluators said definitely or probably; 1 said he wasn’t sure. At the end of the evaluation, the dentists who participated were asked to give their overall satisfaction rating of the Chairside Light Cure Acrylic Kit. Two evaluators gave the kit an overall satisfaction rating of excellent, 4 rated it as very good, and 3 rated it as good. One evaluator said, “Ease of pick up of the cold-cure ERA attachment is wonderful. I will be using it from now on.”