Displaceable Tissue: a Clinical Challenge for a Prosthodontist

A fibrous or flabby ridge is a superficial area of mobile soft tissue affecting the maxillary or mandibular alveolar ridges. Restoration of such ridges often requires special consideration in impression making. Masticatory forces can displace this mobile denture-bearing tissue, leading to altered denture positioning and loss of peripheral seal. Forces exerted during the act of impression making can result in distortion of the mobile tissue. Unless managed appropriately by special impression techniques, such ‘flabby ridges’ adversely affect the support, retention and stability of complete dentures. This paper describes a technique especially applicable for mandibular edentulous flabby ridges. The choice of the impression material, as well as the design of the impression tray, focuses on preventing distortion of the displaceable residual ridges during impression making. The use of this technique helps in maintaining the contour and capturing the detail of the tissues, as well as in accurately determining the extent of the muccobuccal denture extensions.