Amaris is Voco’s boutique advanced microhybrid composite, designed for those who want to take their anterior composites to a new level of combined beauty and efficiency of placement. As an advanced microhybrid with iso-fillers, it boasts true colour stability preand- post curing remaining true to the shade guide.

This predictability makes the product fun to use, especially for those starting out in composite veneers and complex anterior restorations. Creativity is encouraged with the HO (High Opaque) and HT (High Translucency) shades, minimizing visual detection of restoration finish margins and maximizing chameleon effect. Paradoxically, beauty is defined as something that the eye does not detect.

Speed Shading

The new shade guide is exceedingly basic and simple to use. Coined the Intelligent Shade Concept, the 15 colours were engineered to coincide with the visual parameters of natural tooth colour in CIELAB colour space, with some shades slightly outside this zone to compensate for needing increased opacity to block out the dark shadow of the oral cavity as well as increased translucency to define marked characteristics in a limited volume of placement. Featuring five opaque shades (01-05), these essentially replicate dentine shades without having to stock the typical arsenal seen in most practices. The chameleon effect is innate in the system. Amaris has managed to use the natural opalescence and refractive index of enamel and dentine and replicate these in the respective translucent and opaque shades. The result is a truly invisible restoration.

Figure 1 (Amaris veneer-pre): Initial situation: severe tetracycline staining on teeth 11, 12, 13 and 21, 22, 23.	Figure 2 (Amaris veneer-post): Final restoration: Teeth 11 and 21 were endodontically treated and as such were crowned with ceramic crowns. Amaris was used for the layered composite veneers to correct teeth 12, 13 and 22, 23.

Command Placement

Amaris eliminates the need for an instrument wetting agent to prevent composite “pullback” during placement. The material was beautiful to handle and followed the tip of my instrument with every stroke and compression. It did not coagulate into the dry smears I have seen with other composite systems, typically avoided only by using a wetting agent. It is a smooth, non-sticky system that allows sheer efficiency of placement and modelling.

Mechanical and Colour Stability

It is well known that certain foods and liquids such as chronic coffee or red wine intake may eventually discolour the superficial layer of composite. Silanization of the filler particles in Amaris minimizes the chance of this happening, as well as improves its physical properties. Transverse strength boasts a high value at 115-120 MPa, compressive strength stands at 367-375 MPa, and diametrical tensile strength is measured at 51 MPa. Polymerization shrinkage is 2%, which is excellent for a material whose physical beauty and lustre is virtually on par with a microfill, whose polymerization shrinkage is typically in the 2.75%+ range.

Surface hardness measured on the Micro-Vickers Scale is in the order of 100 units, and features superior surface abrasion- resistance and polishability characteristics. The material has a low surface roughness quotient that contributes to the maintenance of lustre over time.

Conclusion

Amaris is a practical solution offering predictable aesthetics not only in the anterior sextant, but as a universal composite system. It has a long working time due to the material’s lessened sensitivity to ambient and chair light. It offers perhaps 95% of the lustre achievable by the best microfill composite, but in exchange, dependable physical properties that ensure that your patients keep on smiling long after other materials have lost their shine. Amaris is the astute solution to predictable aesthetic composite restorations.

Contact: Clarence P. Tam,
HBSc, DDS
Cosmetic and General Dentistry,
Cosmetic Dental
126B Remuera Road,
Remuera, Auckland 1050, New Zealand
www.cosmeticdental.co.nz