 Hello everybody, Andrew Mayesca here with Dental Tutoring. Let's talk about Elginate Impressions. So as a dental assistant you will be taking Elginate Impressions. Ha ha, I hate them. I'm so happy that I do not have to take them. Well I'm a dental hygienist. I do still have to take them but we're talking three a year and that's if the dental assistant is sick or there's just no time or I just pretty much have to take them right. But this is what the perfect Elginate Impression needs to look like. So you see this fold up here so you need to have that there. All of the teeth need to look like they're in there. So no tears, no rips. So those are kind of the main things but it's also hard to take a perfect Elginate Impression. Don't just throw it out or toss it aside if it doesn't look like this. Okay if you're not sure show it to the dentist but I just wanted to show you guys what it kind of looks like if it's perfect. Okay like perfect. So this is an Elginate Impression. So I tried to find a picture for you guys of what you need to set up for the Elginates but I couldn't find one so I'm going to take a picture of that the next time I'm in the office. But pretty much grab two of those rubber bowls. I think they're all rubber from what I can think. And grab a spatula. Grab one of those measuring cups for the water and of course the Elginate probably some extra paper towels because it might get messy and the impression trays. Grab an upper and a lower at least a couple different sizes. That's what I do because until you're doing it all the time you can't just look at a patient and know what size they are. So grab a couple different sizes just in case upper and lower. So yes you might have a lot of different trays in there. You might try them in and then the last tray you happen to try in fits the top and the bottom. So you might have to sterilize a lot of them but whatever that will take time. So because what you want to do is you want to obviously have have the patient sit down put on the bibb explain it to them. So if they're having it for whitening impressions or a night guard you know say to them you are here today for your night guard impressions have you ever had impressions before. If they say no I have no idea then you will want to explain it to them. If they say oh yeah I've had lots of these then you don't really have to explain anything if you don't want to but I do still say oh okay well do you have any questions it's pretty much the same you know but if they have if they say I have no idea I've never had them before then you want to explain everything to them. So I say okay well this is super easy we take impressions of your top teeth and the bottom teeth I will do the top teeth first I mix up the impression material I put it in the tray it kind of feels kind of slimy but that's it it doesn't taste like like anything I will hold it there for for about 60 seconds that's it I take it out and then that's it and then I do the same thing for the bottom make it sound easy don't make it sound complicated sorry guys if I heard something don't you know say oh these are horrible even though they are don't say those things to the patient and then just see if they have any questions because and make sure they're ready for you to take the impression you don't want to just mix it up and then go oh can you get off your cell phone I kind of got to put this in your mouth like within 10 seconds so make sure they know that you're taking the impression as silly as that sounds so I will usually say to them okay I'm just going I'm just going to try in trays first because I need to see which ones fit your mouth so there's nothing in here yet I'm just going to try in the trays first so they know right so then you will find the tray that fits the top and then find a tray that fits the bottom set them aside so you know which ones you will be using don't make the mistake like I've done before is I'll try in like three different trays I put them all on the counter and then I go oh shoot which was the one that fit you know then you have to try them in again so don't make my mistake so let them know that you are now mixing up and material for the top teeth or the bottom teeth whichever one you want to do first so what I do is just to keep it safe I put three the measuring cup I wonder if I can find that online probably not but the measuring cup I fill it up to the line that says three with room temperature water not too hot not too cold if it's too hot it will set too fast if it's too cold it takes too long to set unless you're new and really slow then you want to use cold water yes but I still suggest room temperature okay because you don't want to be sitting there for half an hour either literally it sets really really slow so try to do room temperature up to the number three line and then do three scoops of alginate mix it up mix it fast let them know you're you know mixing it up put it in your tray um I take my finger and I run it under the water like tap water and then I run it along the impression to make it smooth you don't have to but that just seems to help me get a better impression I don't know why I don't know what it is but that just helps me but you might not have time to do that if you're like okay I have to do this quickly I don't know what I'm doing you know so if you're doing the top teeth I tell the patient okay I have mixed it up I'm just going to put this inside your mouth textbook says stand behind them like behind them and then put the tray in their mouth I always stand in front of them because I can't see from behind but that's just me so I go in front of them I put it in I mold their lips very important that will help you to get this ring or that ledge around so when you seat it seat it high because if it's not high enough you won't be able to get all of the full tooth in there seat it and then take your I guess forefinger and your thumb and move their top lip out like this like that and then over so like this did everybody see that let me go a little bit closer so take their lip out like this okay that will mold their lip around it you will get a perfect impression at this stage they might be looking at you like oh my god what did you just do to me remain calm say perfect you are doing excellent breathe through your nose this will take a minute that's it even if you're panicking like oh my god what did I do hopefully I did it right remain calm okay to check to see if the alternate has set there will always be a mess like on the outside okay and it's it's it's hard to picture but the alternate tray does stick out right so the material will be overflowing a little bit so then you can check like on their tray if it's set or not if it's still mushy it hasn't set some of them even change color like if you're mixing it and it's purple and then it changes to pink that means it's time to get it in the mouth and then if it changes color to white that means it's set but not all of them change color because that's more expensive so it just depends on your office so when it is set usually about a minute then you have to take it out okay so what I do to break the suction is I go at at the back and how can I explain this I just kind of move the the tray down so I put my fingers like picture this being at the back so I put my fingers along here and then I push down so like this usually I do one side at a time because if you do one side it kind of loosens up the other side too but everybody's different go in do that or sometimes you can just simply like pull and it comes down but that never seems to work for me so I have to go in and push down I do the same thing for the for the bottom too but I would I would obviously go in and push up but on the bottom there's not as much suction because the tongues in the way so it's a bit easier but then you just take it out and then I wrap it in a damp paper towel so I take a paper towel I put some tap water on it and then I wrap it and then show the dentist afterwards um oh sorry my husband's home I'm just going to shut my door for a second yeah everybody sorry it's just my dogs are going to bark because my husband just came home from work so okay so then you would put the tray obviously aside in that damp paper towel and then tell them okay how was that any questions they'll probably be looking at you like oh my god that was horrible let them know the bottom's so much easier because you have a tongue so less material you don't take impressions of the tongue right so then tell them you are mixing up the tray for the bottom I still do I still fill up the water to number three and then I do three scoops of um um um elginate I couldn't think of the word for a second because in that way I don't run out of material because there's nothing worse than putting the material in the tray and then going oh shoot I don't have enough I just do three and three you never have to worry about not having enough so I mix it up I let them know so this is a bit different so I go to seat the impression tray and then I tell them to lift up their tongue so I will seat it I say lift up the tongue they lift up their tongue and then I push it down you still have to mold their bottom lip so once it's seated they lift up their tongue take the lip out like that and go up so remember for the for the top teeth you would take the lip out and go down for the bottom take the lip out and go up to mold it along and then same thing tell them it's just going to be about a minute that's it and then take it out after it has set same type of thing if you try to take it out and it just doesn't come out easily then you want to take your forefinger and your thumb and just sort of break the suction on the bottom okay and then that's it you should take it out wrap it in a damp paper towel and then for a night guard um typically we send those off to the lab so you'll be telling them okay perfect um you're done for today we will send this off to the lab it usually takes a week or two week um a week or two weeks to make the night guard we will give you a call when that has come in and and let you know and then they will try in the night guard to make sure everything fits sometimes they like to book the appointment for two weeks out so they have them in schedule it takes about 20 minutes so they'll book a 20 minute appointment and then for some reason if it comes in sooner they will give them a call if it's for teeth whitening some offices make the teeth whitening trays in office but i still tell them it's going to be a week or two weeks because the assistant you know you are typically making the teeth whitening trays but you won't have time to do it that day probably because you might have other teeth whitening trays to make so i just say one or two weeks you can always book the appointment for 20 minutes in two weeks and then say it becomes an earlier we will let you know they will probably be messy so make sure to give them a mirror and a damp paper towel to just kind of help to clean themselves up a little bit i always make a mess when i'm taking impressions so it's kind of messy but okay guys i hope that helps let me know if any questions if you want to know more if you're still a student still in school and you're feeling pretty overwhelmed then have a look at the dental assisting board exam prep academy i go through all of this and teach you everything so once you do start working in the office you will feel confident so good luck and let me know how your first um um your first impressions go and let me know if this actually helped you okay guys thank you so much and have a nice night