Selection of impression materials and techniques employed by dentists in Kenya

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the preferred impression material and impression recording technique employed by the dentists in Kenya for specific clinical procedures.Design: A descriptive cross sectional study.Setting: Dental clinics/institutions within Kenya.Participants: Dentists registered by the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board as at 2015.Methods: A sample n=322 was randomly selected among the 1000 dentists registered in 2015. Data was collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire that was distributed via online web-based survey monkey softwareand off-line by data collection assistants. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Results were presented in tables, pie and bar charts.Results: Ninety seven dentists (30.1%) returned the questionnaires, 57 (58.8%) completed the hard copy version while 40 (41.2%) responded via the on-line tool. Majority of the respondents were males 52 (53.6%), 44 (45.4%) females while one dentist (1%) did not respond. Nearly half of the dentists 44 (46.4%) had 0-5 years clinical experience and a sizeable number 72 (74.2%) were general practitioners. Majority 56 (57.7%) considered availability, cost, ease of use and degree of accuracy in selecting impression materials (IM’s). The most commonly used (IM) was alginate whereas the least applied were polysulphide and vinyl siloxanether. Alginate was used in primary and final impressions of all procedures except border moulding, mostly in study model 88 (90.7%) and least in complete denture final impression 4 (4.1%). Addition and condensation cured silicones were preferred for fixed restoration impressions with majority 40 (41.1%) using single mix impression technique. One dentist used digital impression recording technique.Conclusion: Selection of (IM’s) is influenced by availability, cost, ease of use and degree of accuracy. Alginate and silicone impression materials were most utilised. The single mix impression technique was more popular while digital impression technique is yet to be widely embraced by dentists in Kenya