Dental News - The Stegosaurus impression tray

Peter Watt, New Zealand

Mon. 28 December 2009

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KATIKATI, NEW ZEALAND: Some people think Stegosaurus — that archetypal dinosaur with the exaggerated spines. Others think Jaws — this thing’s all teeth. Two things are for sure: 1. The Triodent dual-arch Triotray commands a response well before you try it. 2. It might look scary, but its bark is much worse than its bite.

Triotray inventor and Triodent CEO Simon McDonald has a far more mundane description for those spines or teeth: side tabs. These adjustable tabs are unique to the Triotray, and dentists who have tried the product agree: Because of them, Triotray does the business.

According to Dr Louis Malcmacher: “Dr McDonald has hit another home run — I can’t live without the V3 Ring from Triodent, and Triotrays will be another ‘must have’ product.” Like many dentists, Dr Malcmacher was impressed by those innovative metal tabs, which make the Triotray highly adaptable to the individual patient’s mouth and also give the impression material something to lock in to, making for an even more rigid posterior impression.

Because the Triotray is the only tray with such tabs, bending them is a new experience for all dentists and evaluators, including Triodent’s own. None of Triodent’s evaluators lacked the modest strength needed to bend the tabs by hand, though a few preferred to use a tool for the job. Ultimately the aim was to come up with a design that deliberately made the Triotray as rigid as possible to prevent distortion but at the same time be dentist- and patient-friendly. Dr McDonald says he is very satisfied with the result. "The reliability of the tray is exceptional,” he said. “We just aren’t getting complaints about the accuracy of the impression, and users love the fact that the doubt has been removed and there’s no prospect of a second impression or a dispute with the lab.”

Getting back to those side tabs. They may look sharp but trying the tray in one’s own mouth easily demonstrates that they are not. The sides themselves are not the highest in the family of impression trays, and Dr McDonald emphasizes that a try-in with the patient is an essential part of the Triotray process. If the dentist notices any impingement or the patient complains of discomfort, the dentist simply bends the relevant tabs out of the way.

Common reasons for adjusting the tabs are shallow palate, wide buccal plate or mandibular tori. More often than not, the tabs will need no adjustment. In the feedback from Triodent’s evaluators and from customers so far, there has been no report of a patient being injured by them. Like any new tray, there is a small learning curve when it comes to the amount of impression material to use. The key is to use enough so that when the patient bites, the material is sure to pass between the tabs. The material from the upper and lower quadrants then merges and, when set, is locked into the tabs. In a lot of mouths, the tabs may even be bent inward for a tighter fit, which also saves on impression material.

More information about the Triotray is available from Triodent.

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