Impression spoons contain the casting material used to obtain a dental impression.

There are two different types – ready-made (the picture above shows several different types) and customized (in the picture below). Ready-made spoons are factory-assembled spoons made of metal or plastic in various shapes (for toothed, partially toothed and toothless jaws).

The customized impression spoon is made by a technician based on a model of your jaw. First, a preliminary impression is made using a ready-made spoon, which gives the technician a rough impression of your jaw so that a customized spoon can be made – this is useful in for example, cases in which the jaw has an unusual form or size (too large/ too small, after tumor extraction and so on).

The mechanical retentions between the spoon and the cast material are reached via various openings. Before the cast material is inserted, however, a special adhesive agent needs to be applied in order to prevent the finished impression from falling out of the spoon. Although this makes it difficult to clean the spoon, there is less warping to the casting compound. Warping may result in dentures which do not seal tightly.

In order to save on casting materials, it is customary to take only a partial imprint of the jaw. Either the impression spoon is not filled completely – the film shows how onltythe right side is filled, or the spoons used are only partial spoons – as shown here.

Partial spoons are inaccurate, sice the cast models cannot be positioned correctly in relation to each other. A partial spoon provides the technician with only partial models, which can be rotated in relation to each other and thus do not have a definite position, and the denture (shown here in blue) cannot be modelled accurately.

Complete impressions provide complete models of the jaw with a three-point contact. The models cannot be rotated. Only this way can a technician produce a denture with an accurate fit.