Impression Trays

With this being a home for Epileptics, we may want to investigate further into the use of these mouthpieces; they may have been used when a patient went into a seizure to prevent them from swallowing their own tongue. Just a thought.

People haven't inserted items into the mouths of people having seizures in many, many years because it is dangerous, both to the inserter and the insertee. The inserter can get bit (and the person having the seizure is usually unable to open their mouth to let go after clamping down) and the person having the seizure can potentially have their teeth broken when the "helper" tries to cram a hard object in between their clenched teeth or they can choke to death on the item if you can actually get it in their mouth.
Just an FYI. :-)

Or one cold loose a finger.
really, a while back they really thought that putting things in ones mouth during a seizure was a help, live and learn. "The more you know" LoL

No, he is right. I'm a Dental Assistant. We still use these for making impressions of people's teeth for various reasons. (ie. dentures, braces, mouth pieces, bleach trays, crowns, etc)

Mouthpieces were inserted into the mouths of patients undergoing various forms of shock therapy to prevent the patient from damaging their tongues prior to the introduction of muscle relaxants.
At the birth of insulin coma shock therapy (and shock therapy in general, at that) it was believed that epilepsy and schizophrenia were mutually exclusive, thus justifying psychiatrists to induce seizures to alieviate symptoms of schizophrenia.

*Great information about the historical belief that epilepsy and mental disease were thought to be incompatible, p0lyamor0us - thanks!

*As an FYI, if you are going to protect someone's tongue and teeth you generally avoid metal mouthpieces, such as these dental inserts. Most tongue and teeth protectors were either rubber tubing you bit down on, gauze-wrapped/padded tongue protectors placed between the teeth, or "mouth gags" that were small rubber pieces that dentists developed that you place between the back teeth (and are still used today in some dental procedures - Courtney could tell us more) to prevent the teeth from clamping down when a convulsion occurred.

*Here's a good article on the history of shock therapy and some pix of some the mouthpieces they used - it also contains some of the information noted above about the historical belief of the incompatibility of epilepsy and mental disease:
http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n04/historia/shock_i.htm

*As well, it shows some pix of old ECT machines, so those of you who do urban exploring in old hospitals may be able to identify these if you see any. Eh, just don't get excited and zap yourselves . . . :-)

Thank you Lynne, I also think its best to avoid metal bite guards when administering electric shock therapy. The person's teeth would be blown right out of their mouth. My Uncle is an orthodontist and he uses those.

I have epilepsy and it's been my expierence that you never want to place anything in anyones mouth who is having a siezure. And it's also impossible to swallow your tongue.

Ugh, I hate those dental impression trays! The plaster always triggered my gag reflex and I'd spit up a little. Blech, it's been at least 15 years since I've had one of those "torture" devices in my mouth, and I remember -exactly- what they feel like. Ugh!!

I understand that now it's possible to use lasers to precisely map the interior of the mouth, rendering these things obsolete. All I can say is, it's a damn good thing, and about time!

Ok. Lynne I gots a question. When someone actually has a seizure when they mean " Swallow Tounge" Do they mean the tounge blocks the airway in some way.

im not lynne, but i can answer your question. When someone has a seizure, they dont swallow their tongue, thats an old wives tale. They might bite their tongue, but no one has actually swallowed their tongue during a seizure.

anna is correct. However, when the seizure is over you want to lay the person on his or her side in the "recovery position" so the relaxed tongue doesn't block breathing.

http://www.northeastrehab.com/Articles/seizurefaq.htm

I was researching and I found out that in some cases things like teeth back then could be come of the causes to drive a person insaine( of course we know this is false). I know they more likely would have a dentists office or equipment because even mentaly ill people need cleanings and ect., but sometimes i wonder if they were painfully pulling teeth in their dentist chairs for no reason, other than to try to cure their mental issues

Only if they were a sick SOB.

I have had many a client who was nonverbal who had hidden abscesses, etc., who would engage in severe aggression or self-injurious behavior because they couldn't communicate their pain or show you where it hurt.

Having had a root canal myself 6 months ago and going through some of the most exquisite pain I have ever been through while waiting the l--o--n--g weekend to get to the dentist, I know how bad this can be.

Every dentist I have ever met who works with folks with handicapping conditions does their best to get them in and out ASAP, because most of these folks don't understand why their mouth hurts or why some stranger is sticking their hands and large sharp pieces of metal in their mouth.

Since you have to have assistants when you do dental work, if you did something wonky there would usually or always be witnesses. I am having a hard time envisioning a mad dentist out to wreak terror in the mouths of these folks.

Now, were there (and are there) many dentists who do not understand the health care issues associated with handicapping conditions? Yes, most decidedly so. We have a hell of a time getting dentists to work with our folks. It's hard enough to get you and me (or even ~Me) to a dentist - we all act like idiots and try to hurt the nice dentist, don't we? And we have some vague cognitive glimmer of why they are doing what they do. If you don't have the ability to understand what is going on, either because of a mental illness or a learning disability, you aren't the most cooperative participant in the dental process. If I were a dentist I would think twice (and then 7 more times) about working with either of these groups. However, I am MORE than thankful for those hardy souls who do this work. It is one of the hardest services to get in the community, as people aren't running out to volunteer in droves.

Unless I am misunderstanding your comment.

i'm not sure what the web site was trying to imply, but it basically talked about old ways that mental illness was treated with back in the 1800's. that was one of the things listed on there and it said that sometimes mental issues would be acredited to teeth and various other parts of the body, as well as using labotomy. pretty twisted treatment if you ask me. although what you have said does make some sense. if a person is impaired physically or mentally and they had an abcessed tooth, i can see why they mistake that for a fit or mental problem-so much was misunderstood back then, you could be institutionalized for anything

oh. my. God.

as it's been stated, people don't "swallow their tongue" that is a myth. And YES, I am speaking from first hand experience, I have had a few in my life. Thank GOD only a few, but it doesnt happen. I bit the helll out of it and left teeth marks in my tongue, but you DON'T swallow it - wive's tale,

These guys must have had some pretty big mouths going by the size of those things! :P

i had one of those in my mouth! not nice... not nice at all.makes you gag lik hell.
<3

Ugh. I had those in my mouth last month when They were making the molds for my retainer. Not a fun experience.

Aww come on Brittany, the thick plasticiney gludge that makes you gag is fun! Okay no it isn't.

Just because no one else has really answered with what they do with these things... the metal tray get filled with a thick sludey plasticine type goo which they then forcefully shove as far as they can over your teeth so they get a mold they can then fill with plaster of paris to make a model of your teeth so they can then accurately fit fun items like a Maxillory Expansion Device on your teeth.

There are top jaw trays, which is like the one on the top left of the board, and then there are lower jaw ones, which are the ones on the right next to the aforementioned top jaw one (the difference being one has room for the tongue).

Okay I'm done now. :)

They gave me raspberry flavored goo. Hurray! A combination of a berry I hate and goo!

You know, Felyne, you're right. It is fun. So fun that I never wanna have it done again. x]

Em, don't forget the part where they squirt this stuff in your mouth while you are reclined backward at an angle, and then you think you are choking to death or may-haps going to vomit and so you do some really bizarre athletic activities to try to regain your composure but in your attempts to reorient yourself you accidentally and without malice aforethought brutalize the dentist and/or her dental assistant(s), and then everyone wonders why dentists have such a high suicide rate. =8-o

Aww man, they have flavours now? I only got the generic non-flavoured goo, which, now that I think about it was Pepto-Dismall pink. There is definately a conspiracy going down.

Lynne no fair, you have all the fun! I never got to attack my dentist. He was a little scary and had big hairy arms. But because I'm such a spaz, I can't help but giggle, so when they've got all their hands and vacumns and cotton swabs and crap in my mouth, I just start giggling. And that starts the dental assistant giggling. And then her and I are giggling incessantly at each other, and the dentist has to tell her off and send her out of the room. Oops, my bad.

Dear Sir,

We are manufacturer and exporter of dental and surgical instruments. Our products are of high quality and are manufactured according to international standards. The material we use is either imported from Japan or it is from our own country. We also finish the forging sent by our customers. Whatever product you seek, surgical or dental, we are able to provide you at our best quality and prices. You can visit our website www.irhsurgical.com for the reference of some of our products.

Looking forward to hear from you soon


Regards,
RAZA IQBAL BHATTI
I.R.H. Surgical Company
P.O. BOX # 2994, SIALKOT 51310, PAKISTAN.
Mob: (0092) 345-6725726
Ph # (0092) 52-3551061
Fax # (0092) 52-3251084
WEB SITE: www.irhsurgical.com

they are now used to fit and make retainers

this place used to inject children with polio vaccine before it was given to the general public, they experiemented on kids! This was an evil place and the people who worked there were scarier then the patients!!!

I used to work at Accubite, a very very large dental supply company. The owner of the company, Dr. Costello actually helped create a more modernized version of bite trays for use. They are plastic, with soft mesh instead of hard plastic all the way throughout. The cool thing was, when he was first experimenting with sizing, comfort, etc... we got to be voluntary guinea pigs = D

One of the first trays he had tried out, were way to big to fit comfortably in one of my co-workers mouths, and caused her discomfort, because of that, he resized the sidings of the trays. Really neat stuff to be a part of. Unfortunately, the company closed a few years ago, with no explanation. The workers got to work on a Monday, were handed a box, and told to get their stuff. It saddened me greatly, as Doc C was a great person, and very caring. Sorry for the rambling, seeing these brought back memories.

You can see a not-so-great pic of the Neo Trays he helped create here:
http://www.issaquah-dl.com/samples.html

(they are the neon colored ones, I don't care to remember how many of them things I had to count by hand during inventory days)

These look like the molds they use at the orthodontist when they make your retainers.

Brings back memories of braces...

oh, gag! i hated those things! my gag reflexes came into action, and then my eyes started watering bc i couldnt swallow, and then... yuckity yuck yuck...


hate those stinking things!

I have worked with older adults whose teeth had all been pulled during long years of living in state mental institutions. Some of my co-workers were of the opinion that their teeth were pulled because they had repeatedly bitten staff at the hospital. This may have been true, although I tend to believe that the extractions were due to the severity of decay in their mouths. This was before widespread fluoridation of water in rural areas, and when poor people did not have access to regular dental care. In a "normal" patient, with financial resources, perhaps a skilled dentist could have restored at least some of the teeth. But in an uninsured, nonpaying, combative, disturbed patient, extractions were easier (and probably all the state would pay some minimal amount for). And as sad as it is to not have teeth, I have seen people whose general physical health, behavior, entire persona changed for the better after their teeth were pulled. In an ideal world, there would have been intervention long before it got to that point, but unfortunately we do not have an ideal world, and most people DO do the very best they can, with the resources they have, in the situation they're in.

oh my mouth! I had to get two impressions done in one month, one when i had my braces on for my retainer by my ortho, and one by my dentist for a bite guard. I have a terribly small mouth, they hurt, they hurt bad.

gee what is up with the medical advertisements from Pakistan?

Yup, as kind of answered above, they are impression trays. Usually we fill them with alginate to make a negative impression of the arch and then pour them with dental stone (not plaster of paris) to get the positive replication of the arch. These seem to be aluminum and adjustable (somewhat) to fit a variety of sizes of mouths.

Adjustable...reusable....thank God for the autoclave!

Did you keep one as a souvenir?

that advert has cracked me up laughing. That IS a joke, right?

Eww, reminds me of the fluoride soak I'd have to have in my mouth for 1 minute when I was a kid at the dentist-bad if I ended up getting the grape flavor! Whatever stuff they used for my retainer impression 11 years ago did not taste especially good...and somehow it wasn't right the first time they tried it so I was stuck there while they did it again. Fortunately, now all I have to have stuck in my mouth are the things for x-rays. Yay, no flavor!

They do still use them trays, and they do have flavors but when they go to pull it out of ur mouth it feels like ur teeth might go to because of the stuff they use.