Making a Direct Impression Work Every Time!

When making impressions for a full arch screw retained restoration, precision and accuracy are of utmost importance. This is why most dental laboratories will usually request some type of rigid splinted jig for try-in after your initial impression to rule out any discrepancies or slight movements that may occur with the lab analogs when pouring up the working casts. However, this sometimes may require an extra appointment adding further time to get to completion.

One time saving alternative to this issue is to use a rigid material to splint the impression posts for a direct open tray impression. In the past, I have tried overlaying composite onto a scaffold of floss to try and lock the impression posts together. However, there still seemed to be some flexibility or pliability with the resulting structure leading to errors or misfits of the framework. Duralay resin always worked well, however, it took much longer to place and position the increments of powder and liquid onto the floss.

What I have found to work great in my private practice for the splinting of open tray impression posts in the fabrication of full arch screw retained restorations is the use of Futar D bite registration material from Kettenbach USA. Futar D is a syringeable elastometric silicone usually used for bite registration with an extra high final hardness. Not only is this material easy and effective to dispense in a timely manner, it also is "rock solid" upon setting, so there are no concerns or worries of any movement or distortion upon model fabrication.

Using this technique has definitely helped me in providing effective, efficient and predictable outcomes when delivering full mouth dental implant reconstructions.

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