Evaluation of accuracy of the wash impression technique to rebase and replace the resilient part of a soft-lined denture.

The dimensional inaccuracies that might be introduced during a wash impression technique within a heat-cured acrylic resin tray lined with a silicone resilient denture base material were investigated with the use of an electronic digitizer. Casts were poured from impressions of a machined metal die using a light- and heavy-bodied addition silicone in the soft-lined tray and compared with casts poured from impressions made in a hard-based tray and with the master die itself. The dimensions of the casts poured from the heavy-bodied impression in the soft-lined trays were significantly different from those poured from impressions in the hard-based tray when compared with the metal die. Those produced from the light-bodied material showed no statistically significant dimensional difference.