When selecting materials for clear aligners and retainers, dental professionals often consider options like Taglus and Zendura. Both brands offer a plethora of options that fulfil different types of dental thermoforming needs. If you are a dental professional, you know that they differ in some key aspects, but when it comes to choosing one over the other, it can get quite tricky at times. To help you overcome this confusion, we have prepared a small guide discussing their material properties, USPs and performance, along with some other important factors. This Taglus vs. Zendura guide will help you make an informed decision while selecting an aligner or retainer material that aligns with your thermoforming needs.
A – What Are They Known For?
Taglus:
Founded in 2018, Taglus has established itself as one of the leading innovators in the world of dental thermoforming, producing thermoforming aligner sheets, retainer sheets, 3D printing resins, thermoforming machines and orthodontic accessories. They are famously known to be involved in various upcycling initiatives, producing countless aligner and retainer sheets without adding plastic waste to the environment.
Zendura:
Zendura has earned its reputation as a trusted name in the world of orthodontics, and it is renowned for its high-performance materials like Zendura A & Zendura FLX. Zendura is involved in the manufacturing of aligner sheets, retainer sheets and attachment templates. With advanced manufacturing processes and a history of delivering consistent quality, Zendura forms a trustworthy option for fulfilling the thermoforming needs of dental professionals worldwide.
In this guide, we will learn more about Taglus & Zendura’s aligner and retainer thermoforming sheets and how they compare to each other.
TOCs:
- What Are They Known For?
- Material Options
- Comparison: Taglus vs Zendura
1 – ALIGNERS
- Material Properties & Performance
- Patient Comfort and Acceptance
- Storage
- Treatment Results
- Price
- Choosing the Right Aligner Material
2 – RETAINERS
(i) Qualities of the Retainer Materials
(ii) Price
(iii) Choosing the Right Retainer Material
D- CONCLUSION
B- Material Options:
Taglus and Zendura offer the following material options for thermoforming sheets:
Taglus:
| Category | Dimensions |
| Aligner Materials | Taglus PU Flex 120 mm x 120 mm Round |
| Taglus PU Flex 120 mm x 120 mm Square | |
| Taglus PU Flex 125 mm x 125 mm Round | |
| Taglus PU Flex 125 mm x 125 mm Square | |
| Taglus Premium 120 mm x 120 mm Round | |
| Taglus Premium 120 mm x 120 mm Square | |
| Taglus Premium 125 mm x 125 mm Round | |
| Taglus Premium 125 mm x 125 mm Square | |
| Retainer Materials | Taglus Tuff 120 mm x 120 mm Round |
| Taglus Tuff 120 mm x 120 mm Square | |
| Taglus Tuff 125 mm x 125 mm Round | |
| Taglus Tuff 125 mm x 125 mm Square | |
| Aligner & Retainer Materials
|
Taglus Automated Thermoforming Machine Roll |
| Taglus Arch |
Zendura:
| Category | Dimensions |
| Aligner Materials | Zendura FLX 0.76 mm x 125 mm Circle |
| Zendura FLX 0.76 mm x 120 mm Circle | |
| Zendura VIVA 0.89 mm x 125 mm Circle | |
| Aligner & Retainer Materials | Zendura A 0.76 mm x 125 mm Circle |
| Zendura A 1 mm x 125 mm Circle | |
| Zendura A 0.76 mm x 125 mm Square | |
| Zendura A 0.76 mm x120 mm Circle | |
| Zendura A 0.625 mm x 125 mm Circle |
Taglus & Zendura both offer multiple options to fulfil your thermoforming needs. However, Taglus offers more customisable options. Taglus Automated Thermoforming Machine Roll and Taglus Arch are known for contributing towards user-friendly operations by offering flexibility and reducing material wastage.
Taglus Automated Thermoforming Machine Rolls are ideal if you are using automated thermoforming machines. It is available in all of their variants: Taglus PU Flex, Taglus Premium and Taglus Tuff.
Taglus Arch is a unique dental-arch-shaped thermoforming sheet crafted to reduce material wastage. Taglus Arch is available as Taglus Tuff and Taglus Premium variants in a variety of thicknesses.
C- Comparison: Taglus vs Zendura
1 – ALIGNERS:
i – Material Properties & Performance:
Both Taglus & Zendura prioritise making superior-quality thermoforming sheets. Let’s explore some of its qualities.
Taglus:
Taglus PU Flex leads the way for Taglus as their finest aligner material. It is a homogeneous polyurethane sheet that consists of linear polymeric chains made of alternating flexible and rigid segments, providing excellent flexibility, strength, and durability while also providing comfort for the wearer. Their unique features include increased wear and tear resistance and a high value of elongation at break, which reduces the risk of aligner cracking. It generates greater initial force, producing better results for the patients. Standard tests showed that it possesses an impact strength of 85 J/m, a tensile strength of 61 MPa and stretches up to 100% of the original dimensions. The 24-hour water absorption test exhibited only 0.15% weight changes against the industry-accepted chemical resistance standard of <3%.
Taglus Premium is manufactured by the addition of special grade glycol to PET. This gives it three distinct advantages: elimination of the hazing effect during heating, prevention of undesired crystallisation and formation of aligners with softer inner walls. Taglus Premium offers a light transmission percentage of 91%, which makes it one of the most optically clear materials in its class. It gives exceptional crack resistance and durability to aligners. It provides consistent and gentle forces that are helpful in treating diverse orthodontic cases.
Zendura:
Zendura’s top-of-the-line aligner material is Zendura FLX. It has a trilayer structure combining an elastomeric inner core with a hard outer shell. The inner core provides elastic rebound while the hard outer shell hugs closely to the teeth and assists in achieving the desired tooth movement. Additionally, it claims to exert lower insertion force and better tooth movement force. It provides firm but gentle teeth movement force continually over a 7–14-day wear period and claims to remain transparent throughout the full course of use. It provides a 150% plus better treatment force that opens a wider range of treatment protocols. It allows clinicians to consider shortened wear periods and overall treatment time.
Zendura VIVA takes basic architecture cues from FLX, but it is slightly thicker than FLX, generating a slightly higher force for teeth movement. It is ideal for a wide range of tasks, such as difficult-to-achieve tooth movements (e.g., stubborn canine rotations or extrusions) and the finishing stages. It is also preferred for revisional cases and for hybrid appliance treatments.
ii – Patient Comfort & Acceptance:
Taglus:
Taglus offers a combination of flexibility, strength, high optical clarity and effectiveness, which provides the desired results for the patients while being comfortable for the wearer.
Zendura:
Zendura offers patient comfort during tooth movement, easy insertion and removal with high visual clarity, making it a decent option for a patient’s aligner treatment.
iii – Storage:
Taglus:
Taglus sheets are protected by masking sheets, which need to be removed after thermoforming and finishing.
Zendura:
Zendura sheets come individually wrapped in a special moisture barrier foil pouch which protects the sheets from any damage.
iv – Treatment Results:
Taglus:
The properties of Taglus PU Flex & Taglus Premium sheets place them in a conducive position to provide accurate and effective results for the patients. Apart from the properties of the thermoforming sheets, there are many other factors which are important in providing great results from clear aligner treatment and it should be carefully managed by the clinician.
Zendura:
Zendura FLX provides patient comfort and greater tooth movement force, which can increase patient compliance and generate good results. It also reduces the overall treatment time. The slightly increased thickness of Zendura VIVA makes it ideal for difficult-to-achieve tooth movements and finishing stages of the aligner treatment.
v – Price:
Cost is a significant factor for both clinicians and lab owners. Zendura FLX & Zendura VIVA, with its multi-layered design, comes at a premium price point. Zendura FLX & Zendura VIVA can cost you anywhere between $90 – $100 for a pack of 20 Sheets, whereas Taglus PU Flex comes at a price point of $375 for a pack of 100 sheets and Taglus Premium is priced between $280 – $290 for a pack of 125 sheets. It’s possible to purchase packs containing fewer sheets. To explore the best offers adapting your needs, contact their Team.
Contact the Taglus Support Team here.
You can order Zendura thermoforming sheets from here.
Taglus offers a budget-friendly alternative without causing any considerable compromise in their performance and quality needed for yielding effective orthodontic treatment results.
Practitioners or lab owners should weigh the benefits of each material against their costs to determine the most appropriate choice for their practice or lab.
Vi – Choosing the Right Aligner Material:
Choosing the right aligner material depends on your needs. The sheets should be compatible with your thermoforming machine, easy to handle and produce high-quality appliances in one go without any repetitions. In general, it should be strong enough to generate forces for teeth movement and, at the same time, flexible and thin enough to offer a comfortable treatment experience for patients. It is also crucial for an aligner to possess high optical clarity and stain resistance. They should also be biocompatible and cause minimal to zero irritation to the oral tissues. Both Taglus and Zendura make premium-quality aligner materials with Taglus being the more cost-effective between the two. Also, it depends on your thermoforming needs; you have the option to opt for Taglus Automated Thermoforming Rolls if you are using an Automated Thermoforming Roll Machine. You can use Taglus Arch if you prioritise using an environmentally friendlier alternative, as it tends to generate less plastic waste. However, if you opt for Taglus Arch, you need to ensure that your thermoforming machine is compatible with Taglus Arch.
RETAINERS:
i – Qualities of the Retainer Materials:
Taglus:
Taglus offers Taglus Tuff as a retainer thermoforming sheet. It is a patent pending retainer material, offering a unique engineering combination of elasticity with rigidity and clarity. It is just 0.8 mm thick, offering a comfortable wear experience for the long term. It provides a high Yield strength of 41 MPa, which effectively retains the teeth in position.
Zendura:
Zendura A is widely regarded in the orthodontic field as a well-established material for post-treatment retainers, and it is known for its crack-resistance and stress-retention properties. It is also commonly used as an aligner and finishing aligner material, particularly in cases where a more rigid option is preferred. Zendura A is produced using specialised processes designed to balance key properties such as stress retention, crack resistance, clarity, and stain resistance.
ii – Price:
Taglus Tuff comes at a price point of around $160 – $170 for a pack of 50 sheets, whereas Zendura A comes at around $80 – $90 for a pack of 20 sheets. When comparing the two options, the cost per sheet provides a clearer picture of the value. For Taglus, the cost per sheet ranges from $3.20 to $3.40. On the other hand, Zendura A has a cost per sheet of $4.00 to $4.50.
Taglus Tuff is more cost-effective on a per-sheet basis, making them the favourable option if you’re looking for better value in the long term, especially if you use retainer sheets frequently. Additionally, purchasing a larger pack may save you from having to reorder frequently, which could be another advantage, depending on your needs.
However, if you only need a smaller quantity or prefer to spend less upfront, Zendura A could be a better choice despite the higher cost per sheet. It all depends on your usage and budget preferences.
(iii) Choosing the Right Retainer Material:
When choosing between Taglus Tuff and Zendura A for retainers, consider the specific needs of your practice or lab. Taglus offers a patent-pending design combining elasticity, rigidity, and clarity in a thin 0.8 mm sheet. It provides long-term comfort and effective retention with its high yield strength of 41 MPa. Zendura A, on the other hand, is a widely used material, valued for its crack resistance, stress retention, and versatility. It’s also suitable for aligners and finishing aligners, offering durability, stain resistance, and a firmer fit for cases requiring extra rigidity. Your decision should prioritise factors such as comfort, durability, and intended application.
D – Conclusion:
Both Taglus and Zendura provide high-quality materials for clear aligners and retainers, each with unique properties that may be advantageous in different clinical situations. Ultimately, the choice between Taglus and Zendura should be based on specific treatment requirements, patient preferences, and cost considerations. Consulting with material suppliers, contacting their support teams and reviewing clinical studies can provide further insights to support decision-making in selecting the most suitable aligner material.
You can order Zendura thermoforming sheets from their website. For ordering, please click here.
For ordering Taglus thermoforming sheets, contact their Support Team here. who will ensure that you get a response for all your queries along with facilitating the order request for you.