In order to make perfectly fitting aligners, our dental team needs to see every little detail of your natural teeth and gumline.
The most common impression errors are:
1. The impressions are not deep enough. This means that your teeth were not fully enveloped by putty and/or your gum line didn't show enough. Press the tray onto your teeth as deeply as you possibly can, and then just a little bit more.
2. The putty dried before your teeth could get into the putty all the way. Once the putty starts to harden, you can't sink your teeth deeply enough. Mix the putty for 60 seconds, and use the remaining 30 to spread it into the tray, so that it is in your mouth by 90 seconds.
3. The teeth weren't centered well in the tray, and the putty ended up too thin in places, and/or your teeth went through to the plastic tray or didn't capture the gums. This most often happens when there is too little room between the front teeth and the front of the tray.
4. The back molars were not captured. Make sure your putty goes to the end of the tray and you push deeply and evenly on all sided and parts of the trays.
5. If you have a permanent retainer, and you are planning to align that arch (for example a permanent retainer on the lower teeth when you DO want to align the lower teeth), this needs to be removed before you do your impressions.
If you're not sure about any part of the process - call or chat with us first. We're here to help!