Restorations requiring a provisional or temporary crown are an integral part of crown and bridge treatment plans. Ideally, you want these temporary restorations to be functional, practical, accurate, and predictable—as well as attractive to look at, simple to use, and affordable. To craft the perfect restoration, you need the right materials. Paying inadequate attention to your supplies can result in serious consequences for your patient down the line—from broken temporary restorations, to gingivitis, and compromised occlusion and inadequate final restoration. Make sure you use only superior quality products, like Sterngold’s InstaTemp® Max.

InstaTemp® Max is a self-cure bis-acryl composite resin, formulated for a direct provisional technique (meaning you can safely place material in the mouth using a matrix). Odorless, tasteless, and self-curing, InstaTemp® MAX promises and delivers an easy and high-quality finish.

InstaTemp® Max Delivers Superior Results

A combination of low exothermic and high biocompatibility characteristics—along with fast setting times—makes Sterngold InstaTemp® Max the ideal material. Its primary setting time is about three minutes.

InstaTemp® MAX
InstaTemp® Max has a new and improved cartridge delivery system design that separates base and catalyst outlets, maximizing safety. This prevents the possibility of cross-contamination and a potential blockage. InstaTemp® Max provides 76g of material in each cartridge, compared to 65g space of the original InstaTemp®—meaning you receive 20% more material for the same price!

The dispensing guns are autoclavable, with smaller mixing tips that reduce waste. The auto-mix system eliminates the need for hand mixing, and you can apply the material directly into the impression/matrix without the risk of air bubbles.

How to Use InstaTemp® Max

Using InstaTemp® Max is also a fairly straightforward process.

First, place the cartridge into your dispensing gun. Choose a mixing tip and attach it to the cartridge. Then, express the InstaTemp® Max into the tooth form for your impression. To prevent bubbles, fill from the deepest point outwards, and make sure to express enough material to fully capture the prepared margins. The excess material may flash around the adjacent teeth, but is easily removed.

Next, insert the impression or clear matrix filled with InstaTemp® Max into the mouth. Hold it firmly in place for a setting time of about two-and-a-half to three minutes before removing. Monitor the curing process closely—removal is only possible during this rubbery phase! If a correction is needed after, simply place a new tip on the cartridge, express more InstaTemp® Max material onto the recently-polymerized deficient area, re-insert, and allow the material to polymerize for another three minutes.

When the process is complete, remove the provisional restoration from the impression matrix. Allow the material an additional three minutes to cure before attempting to trim and contour the crown or bridge. Remove the soft, sticky inhibition layer with an alcohol wipe, and polish the restoration. For a high-luster finish, we recommend using SternVantage® Varnish, which is a light-cured one-component surface coating material.

Finally, cement the restoration in place. Use your temporary cement of choice—but we recommend automatically-mixing temporary cements like TempoLok™.

A number of temporary crown and bridge materials crowd the market today, all differing substantially in strength, reliability, cost, and ease of use. Sterngold’s InstaTemp® Max is specifically formulated to satisfy a clinician’s or a technician’s most critical requirements when it comes to fabricating provisional restorations.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Do the InstaTemp®dispensing gun and mixing tip work with InstaTemp®Max? Unfortunately, the two products are not cross-compatible. Different cartridge and dispensing gun shapes make the products impossible to intermix. Further, the old InstaTemp® guns and mixing tips will not work with the Max cartridges, and vice versa.
  • Can I remove the slide from the InstaTemp®Max dispensing gun? Slides in the safety guns are not removable. You need a 4:1 ratio gun to use InstaTemp® Max. The cartridges will not work if the slide is a different size/ratio.
  • How long does the self-cure material take to set? The rubbery phase lasts from two to three minutes. While you should remove the impression from the mouth after three minutes, please be advised that the material will take seven minutes to fully cure. Note that differences in temperature and humidity can also affect setting times.
  • Can I use other materials for the PTT technique besides InstaTemp® Max?Yes. While Sterngold InstaTemp® Max and Composite LC shades are most recommended, you may use any shade, type, and brand of composite.
  • What is the sticky oxygen inhibited layer? You will find that restorations accrue a very thin layer of uncured resin after curing. This layer always forms on composite material, due to an interaction with oxygen in the air. Remove this with alcohol before finishing and polishing or applying SternVantage® Varnish.
  • How many restoration units can one cartridge of InstaTemp®Max produce? On average, a cartridge comprises approximately 50 units.
  • Is it possible to use reinforcement to strengthen long-span temporaries? Yes. Reinforced fiber materials, such as Construct from KerrLab, can be placed in the middle of the provisional for increased strength.
  • Is InstaTemp® Max radio-opaque? Yes. InstaTemp® Max has added barium glass as a filler. This not only increases its strength, but also makes it radio-opaque.