Bioelectric Nerve Stimulation for Final Impression and Cameo Surface Recording for Completely Edentulous Patients: A Report of Two Cases

Attaining the appropriate relation of the denture base with the tissues for optimum retention and support poses various challenges. Retention and support of a prosthesis depend on capturing mucosa and limiting structures in undistorted form. The impression in the geriatric population and patients with maxillary and mandibular defects poses a challenge for prosthodontists. An alternate impression-making technique, including transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS), can be viable for these clinical cases. In the TENS technique, electrodes are placed on the region of the posterior triangle of the neck and the pre-auricular region simultaneously on both sides to instigate muscle contractions in the target area. An impression is obtained in physiological harmony with surrounding musculature after applying TENS. TENS can induce muscle contractions when applied <10 Hz, while >20 Hz can cause paraesthesia. This case report presents two cases rehabilitated with complete dentures in which ultra-low frequency (ULF) TENS (<4 Hz) has been used for impression making.