At 1311 Jackson Ave Dental, the only flowable composite resin that we use is Titan, made by Vista Apex dental and we believe that there is no better alternative.
Advantages using Titan flowable composite:
High radiopacity
Thixotropic
Strength and toughness
We've had a lot of success using it as a cavity liner, core buildups, pit and fissure sealants. The manufacturer does state it could be used for more conditions but the above are what we typically use it for.
Benefits using Titan flowable composite
The three major benefits in using Titan flowable composite for restorative procedures are that it is highly radiopaque, thixotropic, and it is super tough.
High radiopacity
Titan is highly radiopaque on x-rays and it looks absolutely gorgeous, at least to the eyes of a dentist!
The bitewing x-ray below shows what it looks like radiographically. That bold white line at the base of the cavity filling is what it looks like.
Advantages of high radiopacity:
Identifying restorations. Some composite materials are radiolucent and that can be mistaken as a cavity. Having a thick white line eliminates that uncertainty.
How to tell it was done by you. We can immediately tell which restorations were done by our office because of its radiographic appearance. It almost serves as a marker or identifier because of how distinct it looks radneer.iographically.
Eliminates ambiguity with thick bonding. Restorative adhesives/bondings are often radiolucent on x-rays. That's not a problem in itself but caries/cavities also appear radiolucent as well and that can be a cause for confusion. Usually with titan, you don't get much radiolucency at all due to how radiopaque it is.
In our honest opinion, it's radiographic appearance is radio-orgasmic since it makes fillings look like a bonded in emax crown or veneer.
Thixotropic
This flowable composite resin is incredibly thixotropic in that it stays where you put it. The material does not slump and move away from where you place it.
What that means for you: Superb handling because a lot of flowables on the market will slump and move away from where you place it.
Toughness
The material is very strong and tough, which makes it very suitable as a cavity liner. You can even use it as a core buildup material if you wanted to. Although the non-self curing and requirement of light cure may make that a less practical.
However, it can be used as a pit and fissure sealant for primary teeth.
Use cases
At our dental practice, we use Titan flowable for just about every restorative procedure that you can think of. The only time we don't use it is for procedures that do not involve a composite resin of any shape or form.
Procedures it's used in:
Cavity liner. We place Titan as a cavity liner in just about every filling that we do. Yes, we use it for class I, class II, class III, class IV, and class V restorations.
Core buildups. We usually only place about a 1mm layer at the very bottom of the core buildup before we rebuild the rest with a dual cure material. This is due to practical reasons but in reality we could build up the entire structure with it alone if we wished.
Sealants. For pediatric patients who need sealants on their molars, this can be used.
Ultimately, if a resin composite is needed we will use Titan and we'll co-cure it with the dental curing light to help raise the bond strength as well.
Takeaway
Our dentists in Long Island City literally cannot practice with Titan flowable because of how good it is compared to other products.
FYI, Dr Chen used to bring it to all of the dental practices he used to work at prior to opening 1311 Jackson Ave Dental. We don't believe that we've ever seen another dentist "bring their own flowable" to their associateships!
