Has anyone seen better marginal integrity from self-adhesive flowable composites in NCCLs? I benchtop-tested a self-adhesive (acidic monomer, pH≈1.9) against a 10-MDP universal + flowable sequence last Friday — 20 s cure at 1200 mW/cm², 5000 thermocycles — and the self-adhesive showed more gap formation (≈35 µm vs 18 µm), which I suspect is polymerization stress with a thinner, more brittle interphase; curious if a different curing protocol or preconditioning step changes that outcome.
We printed a laminated photo of our three-zone layout and clipped it to the implant cart, so any float can mirror irrigation right/osteotomy center/graft left without asking, which keeps turnover near your ‘12 minutes’. Small tweak on post-op: for larger membrane cases I delay ‘Peridex starting day 2’ to day 3 and use gentle water rinses on day 2 to avoid taste issues and early clot irritation.
We corralled the ‘grafting left’ zone into a sterile quart box with preloaded [redacted] luer-lock saline syringes and a tiny spoon excavator, which keeps the assistant from breaking scrub and gets our turnover close to your 12 minutes. Minor caveat: if we place a membrane, we push Peridex to day 3 instead of day 2 to avoid that early taste burn on exposed collagen.
But i’ve seen the same @OP; switching to a soft‑start cure on NCCLs — 5 s at about 300–400 mW/cm², 3–5 s wait, then full power 20 s — dropped my marginal gaps with 10‑MDP+flowable from about 25–30 µm to about 12–15 µm, likely by easing shrinkage stress, assuming isolation is solid; did you try a ramped cure in your setup?
Echoing the soft‑start from @elsa_m91, the one tweak that cut my NCCL gaps most was a thin RMGI liner (about 0.5 mm) as a ‘stress absorber’ under the 10‑MDP+flowable; the self‑adhesive still gapped more for me after thermocycling. Have you tried a quick GI sandwich there?
On iManage, I ‘Declare Final’ after flattening redactions; add UTC timestamp. @kporter1975, do you also strip EXIF/hidden text?