Make a good impression...
Make a good impression
with your patients
The Results of any clear aligner case are based on a good quality and correctly executed impression/ scan technique
I always try and picture the poor technician having to make an excellent quality product using an impression with defects, voids or underextensions. I used to phone him up and plead with him to ‘make it good’.
I realised this was a bad way forward and so started assessing my own techniques and not sending imps off unless they were perfect. This was time consuming and technically demanding for me and my patients.
I then got my first scanner, this eliminated virtually all of the problems i was having. After a few weeks of perfecting my scanning technique, my scans became useable every single time without having to ask my technician to ‘make it right somehow’.
THINK: how can you make your technician’s job easier ?
ACTION: Ask your technician to assess your impressioning abilities
Impression Guidelines:
PVS Impressions:
Ensure the impression tray is the correct size for the patient's mouth (rear molars coverage)
Overflow both ends of the tray to capture distal of 2nd molars
Inspect the impressions for:
air bubbles, double impression, missing anatomy, push through, or blended tooth and gingiva
Ensure that you have between 2mm and 4mm of gingival tissue captured on the impression
Re-take any impressions with defects or visual voids
Digital Impressions:
Capture 2mm to 4mm of gingival tissue
Follow the manufacturers guidelines for ortho/arch scanning
Accurate bite with the patient in centric occlusion (do not allow patient to bite edge-to-edge).