A dental impression is perhaps best described as a “negative” of a person’s mouth. A dental impression provides a model of your mouth that your dentist and dental laboratory technicians can use to create smile-improving miracles. Impressions are taken for diagnostic reasons and to construct various types of dental appliances.

If you need to have a dental impression made, your dentist will place a soft material something of like the Play-Doh kids use to make sculptures into a small mouth-shaped sort of tray.

You’ll be asked to bite down on the substance, which then sets to become an elastic solid. When the tray is removed, your dentist will have a model of your mouth, which a dental laboratory can then use to make whatever crowns, veneers or other dental aids your mouth may need.

Impressions are usually taken for both upper and lower jaws. If a standard impression tray does not fit your mouth well, your dentist may have a custom tray made in order to obtain a more accurate impression.

Dental impressions are an-easy-to-undergo process that provide many benefits for your dentist, and by extensions, for you. Now, if your dentist says you need to have an impression made, you know what to expect!