Thermoplastic impression tray with three functions
View Patent ↗A method for fabricating a denture using, among other devices, a semi-custom thermoplastic tray. The thermoplastic tray is customized over a mold of an edentulous ridge. The thermoplastic tray has a handle that it trimmed off after its use as a tray thereby converting the thermoplastic tray into a base plate for continued fabrication of the denture. This allows the denture to be completed in only a few days with the patient making a trip to the dentist for the initial fabrication steps and then a second time to pick the finalized denture.
1. A method for denture fabrication for a patient comprised of the steps in particular order:
providing a set of thermoplastic trays having differing predetermined dimensions, each thermoplastic tray comprising the set of thermoplastic trays includes a handle;
selecting a thermoplastic tray from the set of thermoplastic trays to approximately fit an anatomy of the patient's edentulous ridge;
taking a first impression of an edentulous ridge with the selected thermoplastic impression tray;
forming a first positive mold from the first impression;
fitting the selected thermoplastic impression tray by heating to stretch or trimming the selected thermoplastic impression tray until there is a uniform gap between the selected thermoplastic impression tray and a gingiva of the edentulous ridge modeled on the first positive mold in a range of 1 millimeter and 5.0 millimeters;
taking a second impression with an impression material of the patient's edentulous ridge with the selected thermoplastic impression tray;
forming a second positive mold from the second impression;
separating the impression material from the selected thermoplastic impression tray;
removing the handle off of the selected thermoplastic impression tray to convert the selected thermoplastic impression tray to a baseplate;
fitting the baseplate to the second positive mold by heating to stretch or trimming the baseplate;
forming a wax plate to conform to the baseplate;
affixing a bite block to the wax plate and form a ridge;
placing the baseplate onto the patient's edentulous ridge and make alignment marks on the bite block;
affixing a biting wax to the bite block;
softening the biting wax with heat and take a bite impression of a teeth opposing the edentulous ridge;
delivering the second positive mold, baseplate with biting wax, wax plate and bite block to a dental lab for completion of the denture.