A perfect toe dip

I am a huge advocate of dental nurses developing their skills and fully support a team approach to patient care. In their article in the BDJ, Gibson et al.¹ concluded that feelings of contentment and professional self-esteem improved with dental nurses' involvement ‘in patient care (four handedness)’. Impression taking is the perfect toe dip into the pool of additional skills. A dental impression is a negative replica of the teeth and surrounding tissues of the maxillary and/or mandibular arches – think pre-digital cameras and the negatives that came with photographs. From the impression, it is possible to produce an exact replica of the dental structures for use in treatment planning, monitoring or the production of prosthesis. The majority of the impressions taken by dental nurses are taken to obtain diagnostic study models, which are the positive reproductions of the teeth and surrounding structures. They are also used to fabricate bleaching trays and mouthguards.