Current concepts and techniques in complete denture final impression procedures

PURPOSE: In 2001, a survey of U.S. dental schools was conducted to determine which concepts, techniques and materials are currently prevalent in the teaching of final impression procedures for complete dentures in the predoctoral clinical curriculum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The questionnaire was mailed to the chairperson of the prosthodontic/restorative departments of 54 U.S. dental schools. Of these, 44 schools returned the completed survey resulting in a response rate of 82%. RESULTS: Results from this survey show that the majority of schools (71%) teach the selective-pressure technique for final impression making; the majority of the schools (64%) use modeling plastic impression compound for border molding the final impression tray; 39% of the schools do not place vent holes in the final impression tray, 30% of schools place more than one hole and 27% place one hole only; the majority of the schools (98%) are using custom trays for final impressions. Ninety-eight percent of the schools are border molding the custom tray and 70% of schools are using a visible light-cured (VLC) composite resin material to make the trays. Thirty-six percent of the schools are teaching the Boucher impression technique and 34% are teaching the modified Boucher impression technique. CONCLUSIONS: Predoctoral clinical complete denture educational programs agree on many aspects of final impression making, however, there is variability in their teachings regarding the impression philosophy and the materials used.