Having impressions taken: here's a handy trick

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#1 Post by **joplin** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:04 am

I had dental impressions taken for a positioner the other day. That procedure always makes me gag like crazy, but this time the ortho's assistant showed me a trick that worked like a charm: while having the impression tray up your mouth, roll your ankles around. I have no idea why that helps, but it does!

#2 Post by **Faerydust** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:17 am

At the dentist's office I work for we ask the patients to breathe through their nose and alternate lifting each foot, but I'll see if having them rotate their ankles helps.

I gag from impressions and xrays too.

#3 Post by **Toni** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:51 pm

I was really worried about getting impressions because I gag with xrays but I was surprised that I didn't gag at all!
I think because the asst that did them kept talking the whole time. She was making jokes and my biggest worry was trying not to laugh. I never even thought about gagging

#4 Post by **Stephany** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:30 pm

i always press my tongue against the material in the back, so it doesnt go too far back..

helps!

#5 Post by **jaswi** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:04 pm

I have to say, this is one of the things im not lookin forward too about getting these effers off.

#6 Post by **UGHBRACES** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:13 pm

People actually gag from getting impressions? Why? I never noticed anything when i got mine done, nothing to it.

#7 Post by **KARESS** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:42 pm

UGHBRACES wrote:People actually gag from getting impressions? Why? I never noticed anything when i got mine done, nothing to it.

same here.

#8 Post by **Chantal** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:30 pm

I brought my iPod and put on "choral angel music"! I was meditating on it the whole time. Worked awesome!

#9 Post by **iBorg** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:10 pm

With the number of bite plates I've had, impressions seem old hat. In May when I went to the surgeon's office and they took molds they used metal trays. The person doing it was inept. Period. End of discussion. Over filled the top tray enough that it started going down my throat. I'm almost in tears. Then he did the bottom one. He'd pushed hard, I'd try to move away. He was using metal trays. If I'd had a gun, a knife, a stick or even a plastic fork I'd used it on him. I seriously was surprised to not have a major gash on my lower arch from where he was forcing it into my jaw. Then he gave me a cup to rinse out and didn't explain the trick of getting the sink to work.

ERRRRRRR........

Next time a surgeon needs molds, I'm going to ask if my ortho can make the molds. If not I'm taking a set of their plastic tray.

Mike

#10 Post by **Chantal** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 1:12 pm

IBorg: Sounds awful! (Ha! for the fork!)

#11 Post by **KARESS** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:53 pm

Chantal wrote:I brought my iPod and put on "choral angel music"! I was meditating on it the whole time. Worked awesome!

I said i was going to bring my Ipod and play "through the wire" while i got my braces off. LOL!

Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:54 pm

I had 2 different experiences with impressions. the first impressions were done at my dental office to check out my bite. The hygenist had to redue both the top and bottom impressions a few times cause not all of the teeth were showing. It was so hard. By the end of it my mouth was so dry and i seriously felt like i was going to puke. It was horrible.

My second set of impressions were done at my ortho office. Before the impressions were done i had told the hygenist about the problem we had at the dental office so she made sure to measure it out first before she attempted to do the impressions. It turns out i have a pretty tiny jaw, they acutally used a child sized tray to do my impressions (well my top ones at least). It was a much better experience then the experience i had at my dental office. They got the impressions on the first try. To make me not gag the hygenist told me to keep doing deep breathing out of my nose as much as possible. It actually worked out great although i sitll not much of a fan for impressions. I don't know it just feels so weird and eicky but i got through it. NOt looking forward to getting more impressions done before my jaw surgery..

#13 Post by **hachi08** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:13 pm

iBorg wrote:With the number of bite plates I've had, impressions seem old hat. In May when I went to the surgeon's office and they took molds they used metal trays. The person doing it was inept. Period. End of discussion. Over filled the top tray enough that it started going down my throat. I'm almost in tears. Then he did the bottom one. He'd pushed hard, I'd try to move away. He was using metal trays. If I'd had a gun, a knife, a stick or even a plastic fork I'd used it on him. I seriously was surprised to not have a major gash on my lower arch from where he was forcing it into my jaw. Then he gave me a cup to rinse out and didn't explain the trick of getting the sink to work.

ERRRRRRR........

Next time a surgeon needs molds, I'm going to ask if my ortho can make the molds. If not I'm taking a set of their plastic tray.

Mike

Eeeek!

I had a similarly bad experience with the metal trays. I'd gotten my wisdom teeth pulled about a month before and the bottom left (which was the most impacted and had to be cut out) was still a bit tender. Somehow the assistant managed to get the metal tray caught in the space between my lower arch and my last molar as she tried to remove it, and the more she kept pulling, the more the tray stabbed at the extraction site! T_T I was close to tears and to make it worse, she was pretty inept and needed to redo the molds several times--once again on top, twice more on bottom

So I hear you on that stabbing urge!

As for gagging during impressions, I have a really sensitive gag reflex (I threw up once during an xray at the dentist, thank god for that heavy leather bib they make you wear

) What helped me is that they flavored the stuff for the mold, and I picked a really yummy fruit punch flavored one then kept telling myself over and over that it was just a lot of food sitting in my mouth. Will try the ankle rotation thing next time I have an xray!

#14 Post by **Lisa65** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:55 am

I've never had a problem with gagging, and I wouldn't listen to music during any procedure as my ortho chats away to me all the time. The trouble is he expects replies and has to translate my "uungs" and "aahs" into English. He does quite well

#15 Post by **PuppySmiles** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:34 pm

Oh! I have to do molds and a full set of X-rays next week. I'll have to try the ankle rotation.

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Having impressions taken: here's a handy trick

Having impressions taken: here's a handy trick

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