Hi Mark…………I emailed you privately but will repost publically this reply

Marks instruments are awesome. I purchased my first set and will use his kit soon for all restorative composite resins……..why?

1. His spoons are wonderful especially for erbium procedures. What I find is that the dentin gets soft (especially the carious stuff) with all the water spray and it will peel out very nicely and easily with the spoons at high mag.

2. His pluggers come in smaller sizes and are wonderful for use in resins. Not sticky and the right shapes.

3. Mark has some nice placement instruments including burnishers for the resin and in addition he has some beautiful felts that are so thin.

I havent really got alot of composite instruments over the years and really really like his tools that he designed.

He worked hard on them and they really deserve a look.

Buy a set , try them, you wont be sorry, I know I was astonished and I mean that.

Now for the poster boy, I think you have done more to try and educate users than most Mark and I meant the comment in a caring way.

I have a couple of cool cases I am gonna show later tonight between writing articles for dentistry today and for oral health here in Canada……..sheesh.

Finally, pulpal encounters ( of the worst kind) are something I think that is much more predicatable with magnification. I know that I accidentally hit the pulp far far less now with the scope since I can see the blush etc.

I still dont have the success some do with the laser sterilization but have tried it sometimes and it works sometimes.

Great posts as ususal and I would love to see a laser meeting (no specific laser companies) just lectures on how to improve technique……….what do you think Ron……

Glenn

Whitefish in the summer is unbelievable! Great golf, Glacier National Park….just one choice 😉
Mark

Regarding the carious pulp exposure, it would seem that we are gambling that the bacteria are not infiltrated into the pulp chamber with caries being so close to the pulp. Radiographs are helpful but in the end without all of the soft decalicified dentine (Canadian spelling Glenn?) being removed we do not know if there has been an exposure of the pulp. My GPS of teeth does not work well enough for me to tell if I am within 2 mm of the pulp. I can guess, but will the laser sterilize the remaining layer of soft dentin well enough to predict that there will be no or little chance of pulpal infection?

Bob replied to the coagulation of an accidental exposure in a previous forum topic, that while it is more predicable with “clean” (my word) exposures, carious exposures present a more likely endo prospect.

“The laser pulp caps that work are those where the exposure is limited in diameter to smaller then the diameter of the fiber-optic you are using, and/or the area of exposure can be isolated from the main trunk of the nerve/pulp (ie a pulp horn or a small axial pin-point exposure)

Carious/bacterial exposure: don’t expect much. Try if you want, but prepare the patient for future endo.”

Hope it is OK to quote you , Bob, but I repect your opinion which seems mixed with a great deal of experience and science.

So, it would seem that a frank carious exposure has little hope of a laser fix, and a near carious exposure will be of some hope but it is a crap shoot. Maybe this is the time to evaluate the patients gambling instincts.

In my humble opinion,

Pat,

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like we practice in the same conservative way, and I think my patients appreciate giving them a chance to avoid some dental procedure. It can be a relationship building experience as well if it does not work as hoped: they are more resigned to the endo and do not wonder if we are inventing things to do but have their best interest at heart.

Lee

Hey Mark,
About them spoons? Where be dey?
PAT