Case Report: Impression Making for Flabby Ridge: An Innovative Approach

Abstract

A flabby ridge is an area of mobile soft tissue found superficially, which affects both maxillary and mandibular alveolar ridges. It is a common finding in long term denture wearers, where the rate of bone resorption is very fast leading to development of hyperplastic soft tissue over the alveolar bone. Fabricating a denture over the flabby ridge poses a problem to the dentist because 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 leading to ill-fitting dentures. All these factors compromise the retention, stability, and support of the complete denture. This paper presents a case report for a patient with Kelly’s Combination Syndrome, wherein, an innovative impression technique was used to record the flabby ridges during the process of denture construction. The resultant denture was more comfortable for the patient and did not exert undue pressure over the hypermobile tissues.