Greenstick modification of dentures prior to the replica technique: ‘how we do it’

When providing a patient with new complete dentures, the clinician may use a conventional or replica record block (‘copy’¹) technique. Particularly with long-serving dentures, the patient will have become accustomed to the shape of the prostheses, and have developed muscular control accordingly. Marked differences in the form of subsequent dentures may lead to difficulties in tolerance and control, which can be minimized by the use of the replica denture technique. This technique has the following well-recognized indications:²

In conventional denture construction, the primary impressions should aim to represent the full denture-bearing area,³ in order to facilitate the later stages of construction adequately. The authors feel that this same principle should apply to the initial stage of replica denture-making. Here, the modification of peripheral extension of a denture is made prior to the first stage of the replica technique, rather than during the later stages.