Assessment of tissue conditioning materials for functional impressions

The validity of two types of tissue conditioning materials was studied and compared with that of two commonly used impression materials. The effect of three important factors on the accuracy of the impressions was observed. These factors were thickness of the impression material, time of compression of the impression, and the time interval before pouring the impression. A chrome-cobalt master cast was specially designed and 500 impressions were made and poured, resulting in 900 casts. Conclusions reached from this investigation were that: 1. Visco-Gel and Coe-Comfort tissue conditioning materials can be used as impression materials. 2. The dimensional accuracy of Visco-Gel is better than that of the Coe-Comfort impressions. 3. There is no significant difference between using a tray with a space of 1.5 mm or 3.0 mm for the impression material. 4. The less bulky the impression, the less time is required for compression with fewer inaccuracies. 5. It is preferable to pour the cast in the impression immediately or within 2 hours. 6. Both kinds of materials tested can be used as duplicating materials under certain conditions.