Influencia en los modelos del alisamiento de las impresiones de alginato con el dedo humedecido

the purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of superficial bubbles and dimensional changes of three types of irreversible hydrocolloids smoothened with a moist finger and not smoothened. a master die was made with acrylic resin, representing an edentulous maxillary palate that was modified in order to provide a flat surface. five pins were inserted in the alveolar crest at predetermined areas. the study was divided in 6 groups in agreement with the molding technique and the hydrocolloid material (jeltrate, jeltrate plus and hidrogum). these consisted of 10 impressions for each group. the palate region of the molds was assessed with a microscope (50x) to allow bubble scoring. the mold was immediately poured with type iv dental stone. the casts were scanned and digitalized. the distances between pins were measured employing autocad 2000. the data was submitted to anova and tukey′s test with significance level of 5%. there were no significant differences between cast accuracy obtained from either impression technique regardless of the alginate tested. from the results obtained it was concluded that the presence of bubbles was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the groups that water rinsing with was not performed; the alginate ？jeltrate？ showed a larger discrepancy between both techniques (with and without moist finger smoothening).