FAQ’s  DOC’S BEST™ Red  Cement with Activated Copper

DOC’S BEST™ White Cement with Activated Copper

DOC’S BEST™ Pulp Canal Sealer with Activated Copper

COPALITE® Varnish

Patent Pending on several formulations and applications besides the above

 

  1. Does red cement dry to a red color?

 

The red color of DOC”S BEST™ Cement blends better when used to cement gold restorations. Standard Zinc Phosphate cement leaves a white line, which may discolor. The red color will not discolor the tooth structure.

 

  1. What about the red color underneath composite restorations, will it show through the white composite?

 

The DOC’S BEST™ Red Cement can be used under posterior composite restorations with a minimal of coloration showing through the composite. There is a DOC’S BEST™ White Cement formulated for anterior teeth restorations. A new formulation of White Copper Plus has the strength and effectiveness of the Red Copper cement and the snow-white color desired by dentists.

 

  1. How can the copper stop decay and tooth sensitivity?

 

Copper is a known decay-retarding and collagen-building mineral in nature. Copper is naturally antimicrobial but its destruction of Biofilm matrix is of an electrical nature created by proper galvanism. The patent pending formulas use two dissimilar metals within an acidic solution forming a battery-like affect:

Phosphoric acid

Copper-excellent electrical conductor

Silver-excellent electrical conductor

 

In addition, copper is a well-known antimicrobial agent of its own accord. Silver as well has been used for its antimicrobial properties for centuries.

Copper and silver both with positive charges tend to repel each other, thus creating a great deal of galvanic spin.

Iron while not known for its antimicrobial properties is a positively charged dissimilar metal capable of putting copper into a spin. Iron and copper within blood have an antibiofilm effect.

 

  1. Tell me more about copper.

 

Copper in low therapeutic doses promotes pulpal health and retards decay. In nature, copper is an inorganic mineral and is reported to rebuild collagen fibers and retard decay. The formulation for the DOC’S BEST™ products has a very low dose of copper activated by metallic salts.

 

  1. How long has Red Copper Cement been used in dentistry?

 

For over 200 years dentists in the US and Europe cemented gold swaged crowns with Red Copper cement. The ingredients in the  older formulations had very high doses of copper. The swage crowns were preformed, stamped in sheets of gold, much like our aluminum temporary crowns are today. The gold was thin and could be crimped easily around the tooth. The gold was 22 karat, which is soft. Through the years the patient would wear away the gold by just normal chewing, and the Red Copper cement would be exposed. The tooth was still protected by the Red Copper cement. It was more durable to the forces of mastication than the gold. The oldest recorded patient with a gold swaged crown and Red Copper cement that we could find documentation, was a woman who had the crown and cement placed when she was 6 years old. She died at age 102 with the Red Copper cement exposed through her worn gold swaged crown. No decay was present around the Red Copper cement. The crown was placed by Doc Holliday, famous dentist and side-kick of Wyatt Earp, a famous US sheriff in the Old West (1870’s).

 

  1. How is the DOC’S BEST™ Red Cement different from the DOC’S BEST™ White Cement?

 

These cements are only different in color. They have the same properties. The DOC’S BEST™ Red Cement has a slightly greater compressive strength and is recommended to be placed in posterior teeth. The DOC’S BEST™ White Cement is more aesthetically pleasing under anterior fillings. The new White Copper Plus formulation rivals the physical properties of any red copper cement and better esthetics that the White.

 

  1. What is the similarity of the DOC’BEST™ Red Cement, DOC’S BEST™ White Cement, DOC’S BEST™ Pulp Canal Sealer, and COPALITE® Varnish?

 

The basic similarity is they all have the Activated Copper formulation in them. The DOC’S BEST™ Cement Powders  can be mixed with COPALITE® Varnish for any situation when the dentist needs to destroy  LIVE  tooth decay  in the tooth without the necessity of pulpal exposure. The Cement –Varnish mixture (5 air dried layers) can be painted directly on the live decay, killing the decay and causing no pain to the patient. This slurried liner will penetrate the potential one-mile of dentinal tubules, and prevent sensitivity to the patient. The patient’s tooth only needs a thick mixture of the Cement- Universal Liquid  mixture added. The restoration is finished with composite, amalgam or gold restoration.  The DOC’S BEST™  Pulp Canal Sealer is placed around the root canal post. FIRST, five layers of Cement/ Varnish mixture is painted in the root canal. Allow two minutes to completely dry. Mix the Pulp Canal Sealer, load into a Centrix® ampule and express into the canal. Mix a thick mix of DOC’S BEST™ cement and place the post. Build up the thick mix around the post as a core build-up. Cement the final crown with DOC’S BEST™ cement to protect the tooth. The crown will stay strong for many years. The DOC’S BEST™ products and COPALITE ®Varnish are all antimicrobial to protect all tooth surfaces from harmful Biofilms for many years to come.

 

  1. Can bonding adhesives be used with the DOC’S BEST™ Cements?

 

Yes, if the dentist is placing a composite restoration, it is recommended to use a bonding adhesive to adhere the cement to the composite. Investigations are underway to add the patent pending powder formula to various dental restorative products in order to render them truly anti-microbial. Enamel bonding is not effected by the cement.

 

  1. Can the DOC’S BEST™ White Cement be used on posterior restorations?

 

Yes, but using the DOC’S BEST™ Red Cement is a stronger cement to take the forces of chewing. The new White Copper Plus formulation has the same physical properties as DOC’S BEST™ Red Copper Cement and is very interchangeable.

 

  1. How many years has the DOC’S BEST™ Products and the COPALITE® Varnish  been tested?

 

DOC’S BEST™ Red  Cement with Activated Copper                                              15 years

DOC’S BEST™ White Cement with Activated Copper                   15 years

DOC’S BEST™ Pulp Canal Sealer with Activated Copper                          5 years

COPALITE® Varnish                                                                                  71 years on the worldwide market

with its known antimicrobial properties. It is time tested.

 

Millions of patients have been treated with these quality products in the USA and Europe. No complaints have been documented due to product failure. These products were invented by dentists for dentists. They want their colleagues to be assured of the same quality results every time they place these products in a patient’s tooth. The use of these cements bring forth a paradigm of therapeutic use of key metallic salts used in forming superior phosphate cements.

 

  1. What other ways can these products be used to protect the tooth from decay?

 

The DOC’S BEST™ Red  Cement Powder can be mixed with a self-curing composite to be used as a core build up. Mix  together about 1/4 scoop of the DOC’S BEST™ Red Cement Powder only with  a small amount of A&B parts of the self-curing composite material. Place in the tooth. Allow to self-cure. The composite can then be prepped to receive a crown.

You will have a build up that will resist microbial infestation. Testing is underway for placing the patent pending formula powder in other dental restorative products.

 

  1. Will the Copper cements bond to the tooth?

 

Copper cements were said to be bonding cements by many dentists who used them because of their superior retentive qualities. In fact the thin powder created by calcinations when combined with the superior mechanical qualities of red copper cements led to that belief. What was actually happening was the use of irregularities in the casting and the prepared tooth to form a cement lock. While DOC’S BEST™ Cements are not bonding cements (we do not believe in bonding to dentin) They have superior retentive qualities due to their fine consistency and hardness upon setting.

With Red Copper Cements there was always the illusion of bonding. This thought was not true for regular zinc phosphate cements.

 

  1. Aren’t  copper cements known to be toxic?

 

Our copper cements use low percentages of activated copper. They, according to Clifford Reactivity Testing, Colorado Springs, CO, and clinical experience, DOC’S BEST™ cements are much more biocompatible than other zinc phosphate cements. Low doses of copper are necessary for life. Our red blood cells form around copper. High doses of copper are toxic and are never recommended for dental cements. Of the early copper cements, about two-thirds of the cements used unsafe levels of copper. A few, very good copper cements used low dosages in a way that made them very safe, and kind to the tissue while being as antimocrobial as the high percentage copper cements.

Until Biofilm Engineering began seriously about the year 2000, no one really understood what had to be added to copper to make it useful against Biofilms. Not until 2000, did dental science realize that dental disease was Biofilm related. Prior to this, planktonic microbes were considered the problem. There is a huge difference between planktonic forms and the estimated 700 varieties of Biofilm microbes that exist in colonies associated with teeth. Going after Biofilms without activated copper is like hunting lions with a B.B. Gun. Unless the mucopolysaccaride matrix can be penetrated and destroyed, Biofilms remain extremely resistant to chemicals, one would normally consider to be highly bacteriocidal.

 

Rev. 3/7/05