A. Our company has been making dental alginate in the United States under the name Accu-Dent Research & Development Company, Inc. since 1969. In 2005, we sold our company name and our main dental alginate product line to Ivoclar/Vivadent.

This put us in a very strange position. No customer lists, no recognizable name, and a brand new product line. One thing we did have going is that we know a lot about alginate and we were now free to explore some other business models- which leads us to our next question.

Q. How can you sell dental alginate for such good prices?

A. When we sold the Accu-Dent product line, we got rid of all our contracts with dental supply companies and other distributors. We decided that the time had come to try a "direct-to-customer" business model that utilizes the internet and secure webstore technology to bring high quality products directly to the dental office and wholesale prices.

Since you don't have to pay the distributor's markup, you can get a first-rate product at cut-rate prices. Paying your distributor's markup doesn't make a product any better........just more expensive.

We've been quite successful in spite of not having a big advertising budget. We figured that the product would speak for itself and that our customers would tell their colleagues through study groups, etc. We encourage you to spread the word. Your colleagues will be glad you did.

A. SNAP2 is a basic, heavy-bodied, smooth-mixing, snappy (2:00 set) alginate. SNAP3 is a 3-minute version of SNAP2. They have a light spearmint flavor and are very good for everyday dental impressions. Every bit as accurate as our competitors, SNAP2 or SNAP3 should be in every dental office.

Phase2Gel is our newest formula. It is a color-changing, pseudoplastic dental alginate that both the dental assistant and the patient will love. Total setting time is 2 minutes 15 seconds. Complete Instructions and timeline can be found here.

The Phase2Gel color-changing formula fades from pink to white 30 seconds BEFORE it sets. This tells the operator exactly when the tray should be placed in the mouth. This does TWO things. First, the tray is in the patient's mouth the absolute minimum amount of time compatible with taking a good impression. Second, it encourages the operator to take a little more time mixing the alginate (a good thing) and more time carefully loading the tray (another good thing). The operator also avoids that panicky "Oh no, I'm sure that if I don't hurry up, the alginate will set up before I get the tray in the mouth and I'll look like an idiot" feeling.

Phase2Gel costs us a little more to make than the SNAP2/SNAP3 so we charge a little more for it.