Procesos de Negocio e Ingeniería de Servicios (PNIS, 2ª edición)

A dental impression tray having a handle and a mouthpiece is disclosed herein. The mouthpiece contains an upper portion and a lower portion defined as a means for laterally displacing excess impression material. The upper portion of the mouthpiece, which holds the impression material, is defined by outer and inner walls having arcuate shapes, a base attached to and extending the length of the bottom of the outer and inner walls, a plurality of elongated vent holes in the base, and a serpentine occlusal stop ridge extending from the top of the base. Therein the outer edge of the inner wall of the upper portion of the tray are a plurality of holes which force excess impression material to extrude to the means for laterally displacing excess impression material. Excess impression material extruded from the holes flow laterally across the horizontal surface and interlock with the excess material extruded from the elongated vent holes thereby securely attaching the impression material to the mouthpiece. Moreover, the elimination of the palate on the impression tray which creates the impression of the upper dentition by the present invention decreases the likelihood of inducing a patient's gag reflex. Extrusion of excess material to the horizontal surface also causes only the requisite amount of impression material to remain in the upper portion of the tray. The combination of the improvements of the present invention produces an overall more comfortable and accurate impression tray.