Thank you to those who replied.
Inquiry: For those of you who have used this system, I would
appreciate any
comments about it, positive or negative. I’ve checked out the
website, and it looks very promising compared to the ole’ aliginate
method.
Replies:
**I have used about 20 duplicones in my practice and have good results
from them once I found some of the tricks in using them. You can really
only use them once, sometimes twice if you have enough thickness in the
bottom. Once they are formed you can pour with plaster and laminate over
the top of them. Very handy in a fast need to use situation. I used them
because I did not have a fab lab in our facility and needed to ship
things out to C-fab. These eliminated worry about weight of shipping
and shrinkage problems that can occur with alginate.
If you follow the directions and plan ahead, by warming the water
before the patients comes in. The process can be very quick. You do have
to be careful that you wrap the prosthesis with a bag and do this in a
good sink, I have had problems with the splashing on the prosthesis
after I had poured water in the cone. I also have a tendency to leave
the shoe on, just because the prosthesis is much more steady when you do
this and wrap the shoe and all in a plastic bag and tape it just
underneigth the distal cut out on the posterior brim. Use a lot of
powder because the stuff gets sticky when it softens up. Also choose the
right size cone when going into the socket. If it is too small the cone
will soften and split pouring water into the socket and filling up the
prosthesis and shoe, (if you have a lock distally). Yea, been there and
done that. You do get very good impressions and have a nice duplication
when you are done. If it doesn’t pick up the distal end you can also put
it back in the socket and heat the end up with a heat gun carefully and
push the distal end down until you feel it hitting the bottom of the
socket. Two people are really helpful doing this and it can even be non
tech type people too.
Good luck and when you are done with the cone, just let the pot boil a
bit more and throw in some lobster and really impress your patients with
what you can produce in the lab!
Jeffrey Ropp, CP
**I am very happy to say the system, and technique works exactly as
represented. The directions are clear, and simple. Compared to foam, and
alginate, the Duplicone is fast, efficient, and cheap.
If they don’t have the size you need, call, he cut two, and welded them
together for me to duplicate a symes.
Beware, these things are so accurate, and rigid, if you have the
slightest bulbous distal, or extreme irregularity you will need a couple
vise grips and a large hammer for removal.
His only problem is once used, you have an exact mirror image, you
should never need to buy another for the same job.
Monty L. Young CP
**We have used the duplicone system several times with good results. We
purchased a propane-fueled “turkey fryer” to heat the water though
because you may need lots of volume for larger sockets.
Jim Rogers, CPO, FAAOP
**We use them here at the VA. But I will tell you that the definition
in
detail is of course much better with alginate. A duplicone gives you
good dimensional representation but lacks finer detail of alginate.
RS Marchisio RTP
