How to take dental impressions?

Dental impressions do not necessarily have to be taken by a dentist or orthodontist. You can also do this yourself quite easily at home, without the result being less precise.

The work steps are not significantly different from those in a dental practice. You will need a self-curing impression material, such as the one included in our impression set. 

The compound consists of two components. When you mix them together, it takes about 5 minutes for the compound to harden. In the meantime, you have enough time to form the impression compound into a strip approx. 8-12cm long and place it in an impression tray like the one you use at the dentist. The tray is then pressed evenly over the jaw so that the anterior and posterior teeth are imprinted at a uniform depth.

The impression tray then remains in the mouth for approx. 3 minutes and can then beremoved with light levering movements. The same procedure is carried out for the other jaw. If the impression does not accurately depict all the teeth, it can simply be repeated.

A dental laboratory later uses the two impressions to create two plaster models of your jaw, which are then digitised by a 3D scanner. In order to be able to perfectly match both models, a good impression set should also include a wax strip with which you can reproduce your very own bite. This wax strip is briefly heated under water, placed on the mandibular arch and then clenched. This also hardens again after a short time.

It is still important that the impressions and the wax bite are sent to the responsible laboratory within 2-3 days. This is the only way to ensure that the material remains perfectly in shape.