Heraeus' Modern Materials Masters the Whole Ball of Wax to Deliver Unmatched Consistency

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, June 6, 2012—

Achieving truly exceptional consistency is a significant challenge for virtually any product category. The challenge is particularly steep, however, for dental waxes, which are vulnerable to uncontrollable variables ranging from the weather in South America to the behavior of bumble bees.

Yet despite this, the Modern Materials Division of Heraeus Kulzer, LLC, the worldwide leader in dental esthetics, has set the standard for dental wax consistency for over 50 years.

Manufacturing consistently exceptional dental waxes requires not only the highest quality raw materials, but state-of-the-art machinery and very tightly controlled processes. Modern Materials is unsurpassed at all three facets.

First of all, its waxes are made from the finest natural materials the planet has to offer. Rather than settling for domestic beeswax, which fails to give the finished wax the toughness and resiliency that meets Modern Materials' unrelenting standards, the company insists on using only South American beeswax.

Another type of wax that goes into Modern Materials' base wax is carnauba wax, which comes from the underside of the palm leaves on the Copernice Cerfera tree (called "Tree of Life") from the village of Ceara in northeastern Brazil. It makes the base plate wax harder, increases the melting point and reduces tackiness. Less than 1% of wax from carnauba palm can be used for Modern Materials dental wax. The company insists that the palms are clipped only from healthy trees at least 8 years old, that no more than 35 leaves be cut from each tree, and that the leaves cut be the youngest ones on the tree. In addition to having the finest natural ingredients, Modern Materials also enjoys the benefit of the most advanced processing equipment. This includes double-jacketed steam kettles to ensure a perfect melt, and gravity-fed pouring to ensure a densely-poured billet that allows no air in the mixture.

But the finest natural ingredients and most advanced machinery will still not produce the highest quality finished wax without uncompromising production processes. After all, overcooking by only a few degrees can ruin the entire batch. In fact, if the temperature of the processing room changes even slightly, the finished waxes will blister.

Two other keys to exceptional quality are to ensure that the waxes are aged for exactly the right length of time, and to keep the manufacturing environment absolutely spotless. In short, extensive production management expertise and tightly controlled manufacturing processes are absolutely essential to achieving the desired result.

"We don't have a magic formula for making the world's best dental wax. The fact is that all manufacturers use essentially the same formula," said Lesley Melvin, Heraeus' Product Manager for the Modern Materials Division. "What we have that no one else has been able to touch over the past half century is an unmatched blend of the best possible natural ingredients, the best possible machinery and the best possible manufacturing processes."

For more information on Modern Materials, or other Heraeus products, call (800) 431-1785 or visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com.

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