DRAGGING (most common)

This is the most common mistake! If the impression is removed before the putty fully cures, there’s a good chance your teeth will drag on the putty and ruin the impression. Dragging is obvious when you look at the impression and there is no clear line where the gums meet the teeth (teeth appear squared off).

PUTTY NOT THOROUGHLY MIXED

Putty looks like a white & blue swirl rather than a consistent blue. This is the 3rd most common mistake! If you do not take enough time to mix the putty, it will look marbled with blue and white swirls. This impression will not cure properly and impression will likely fail. MAKE SURE TO MIX PUTTY THOROUGHLY SO IT IS A CONSISTENT BLUE COLOR.

SHALLOW IMPRESSION (2nd most common)

Your teeth & gums did not go deep enough into the putty. A good impression requires both teeth AND gums to be clearly visible. If teeth and gums are not deep enough into the putty, you’ll get an impression resembling this (you cannot see where the gums meet the teeth (gum line). SURE YOUR TEETH ENTER THE PUTTY SUCH THAT IT COMPLETELY COVERS THE TEETH AND GOES OVER THE GUMS.

IMPRESSION WALL COLLAPSED

The wall of the impression has fallen inward. Although the putty is mixed properly, this impression failed because it was taken out of the mouth before completely hardening. LEAVE THE IMPRESSION IN THE MOUTH UNTIL IT HAS COMPLETELY HARDENED.

HEAVY SCRAPING ON TRAY WALL

Your teeth scrape along the plastic impression tray. If your teeth are too close to the plastic tray, scraping can occur. This happens if you do not center your bite OR if a larger impression tray is needed. Our lab can only fix minor scraping and heavy scraping will result in an inaccurate impression. IF THE INCLUDED IMPRESSION TRAY DOES NOT FIT, LARGER IMPRESSION TRAYS ARE AVAILABLE.

Contact [email protected] if you need a larger or smaller tray.