FAQ

Experience shows that periodontal fibers’ tensile strength spontaneously decreases if subjected to continuous tension.

This phenomenon could be proven with the Benex system:
Subjected to a persistent, unchanged tensile force, the wire’s tension (root retention) gradually decreases.

Permit me to copy the answer from an e-mail inquiry:

Before ordering the Benex Starter Kit, I would like to ask you if this is advantageous.

I recommend the complete set. It is worth it, as it contains the pole extractor which is used for extractions in the upper jaw (palatal root) or to remove deeply fractured root fragments.

Does it make sense to buy such a kit before attending a hands-on course?

Yes, you can do the “course” online. Before using the Benex, I recommend you to spend an evening surfing on my website.

Is there a possibility to see the system in use by a practitioner?

The local Zepf-Dental dealer can only provide you with a loan unit and help you.

I have a “Piezosurgery 3” (which I stupidly need far too rarely): Does it make sense to buy a supplementary Benex System (which I hopefully will use more often)?

I can assure you that you will not want to miss the Benex any longer if you used it for 10 times. After two years you will even wonder what you ever did without it. Moreover, the Benex System does not have an expiration date. Your investment is profitable – if not for you, then for your successor!

Don’t you really work anymore?

I don’t work in my own dental practice anymore.

That would be a great pity!

Well, it also leaves a lot of time for everything you will not be able to catch up at the age of 75, e.g. taking care for your grandchildren, sports, culture, …

The younger generation and me, we could learn such a lot from your practical hints and your experience – e.g. as a kind of surgical coach.

This remark makes me happy, as over the next three years in my volume of work of 20% I will hold courses, perform operations in dental practices and assist in operations.

A Benex drill can be used over thirty times.
In order to protect the drill, do not exert much pressure when drilling and move the drill inwards and outwards to ensure the water cooling.

A Benex drill needs replacing if:

• the grinding capacity is poor.
• the diamond coating is missing from the front side of the drill tip.

Picture left: new drill
Picture right: used drill

Screws can be used over fifty times.

Screws with a blunt thread should only be used for thick-walled root fragments with firm dentine.

Finger test for checking the screw thread:

Hold the screw head with your thumb/index finger.
Grip the thread with your opposing thumb/index finger.
If you exert tension on a blunt screw your fingers will slip over
the thread.

Important tip:
Keep a new screw separately* and use it only for extrusion treatment and for situations where luxation is not possible and/or the root fragment has a thin wall.

* in the Benex set are always two screws:

• a little used / newer (no marking)
• and an older one (marked with a diamond on the screw head).

The newer is used only for delicate roots and during extrusion.
The older one is used usually, until it no longer cuts, then it is replaced with a new one and the remaining screw is marked as “older”

If correctly used, a wire can be used more than fifty times.
Do you still keep a wire in reserve anyway?

If a wire tears after a few uses:

• make sure that you have an original Benex wire
• pull strictly toward the axis of the root

The draw-wire direction must be strictly aligned to the axis of the root.
To correct the support surface (occlusal plane), use the various support discs and/or the quadrant support.

The support plane can usually be sufficiently corrected with the asymmetrical support disc.

If there are free end gaps or strong protrusion/retrusion, use the quadrant support for correct extractor positioning.

The putty should be as thin as possible, otherwise the extraction tension will cause a spring force. This results in worse power transfer and uncontrolled root detachment.

The root cross sections are usually oval and the alveolar walls break at the slightest rotation with the pliers. The video clearly shows several longitudinal fractures from the extraction using pliers.

Only applying force solely along the longitudinal axis of the root during the extraction can fine remaining parts of the alveolar wall be preserved, as shown in the example below.

Status after a Benex longitudinal extraction:

It was possible to preserve the fine interdental bone bridge coronally and three months after the extraction there was a wide bony ridge.

First check the direction of the draw-wire

It has to be aligned strictly to the axis of the screw/root, see also “The support disk, the quadrant support”.

The root will not detach despite correct procedure.

Keep the system under tension and apply pressure with the luxator in a mesial/distal direction.

Possible reasons

1. The screw is in soft dentine
2. The screw thread is blunt (see: When does the screw need replacing?”)

As to 1: the screw needs positioning in firm dentine

Mill the core of the root deep down into the apical third of the root with a round bur.

Open the visible root channel with the trephine and prepare with the Benex drill (often using the shaft extender).

Drilling should penetrate the root; this is clearly noticeable (the drilling resistance diminishes).
This enables the screw to be well and securely anchored in the apical, firm root fragment.

The longitudinally fractured root

The fragments are usually loose, but are difficult to loosen from the socket with a lever/pliers.

Preferably, remove a first fragment with Benex, you can then luxate out the second without any difficulty.

The transversely fractured root

1. Pre-existing fracture

Drilling through the coronal fragment and fixing the screw in the apical fragment.

2. Fracture while extracting

Curved roots or roots with “predetermined breaking point” (end of channel post height) can break during extraction.

The apical fragment is removed with a second drilling/screw fixing.

The indication for Benex extraction is a must if flap opening/osteotomy with conventional extraction were necessary or the risk of a sinus perforation threatens.

Example 1

Without Benex it would be necessary to open a flap and osteotomize to extract this root (oval cross-section and tight space).

Example 2

Benex extraction in confined interdental space like Example 1

Example 3

The fractured, apical root fragment was able to be extracted with the Benex pole extractor without pressure on the sinus floor.
Conventional luxation with a lever threatened to perforate the sinus.