Avoid these mistakes while taking your impressions.

Taking impressions of your teeth at home is not something you come across every day. That’s why we’re here to guide you through the do’s, and particularly the don’ts. 

The impression kit from Basma is the first step to your invisible aligner treatment. It’ll help our orthodontist assess your case and design a customized treatment plan. Rest assured, we’ve created a kit that’s both home-friendly and time-efficient. But before starting, it’s important that you read the full guide included in your kit and watch our step-by-step video. Most mistakes tend to happen if you jump right into the process without doing your homework! Now, let’s dive in.

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Scenarios to avoid while taking impressions

#1 You didn’t press down enough on the mouth tray
Taking an impression means pressing down on a paste (putty) that you lay out on a mouth tray. If you don’t push all your front and back teeth to the bottom of the tray, you can end up with a shallow impression. In that case, our orthodontists won’t be able to see your gum line.

#2 You didn’t bite down in the right spot
Once you lay out the putty on the mouth tray, you’ll need to draw dots in the center (as shown in your guide); that’s where your front teeth will bite down on. If you don’t aim your front teeth over the dots you drew, they will break through the putty. The gum lines for the back molars will be too faint and the doctors won’t be able to see where the front teeth end and the gum line begins. Make sure you feel both your front and back teeth touch the bottom of the tray.

#3 You pulled out the tray too quickly and aggressively
For every impression, you’ll need to press down on the mouth tray for a good 3 1/2 minutes. Avoid pulling the tray aggressively from the front or removing it before the putty hardens. Make sure you remove the tray using your two fingers from the sides before you completely remove it from your mouth.

How a good impression looks like

The picture below shows the perfect impression. All the teeth are captured and you can clearly see the gum line. You get this result when you pull your lips over the tray, apply even pressure on both sides, and then gently take it off from both sides after the right time has elapsed.

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