A new method of recording the elastic recovery of dental impression materials.

Assessments of the elastic recovery of elastic impression materials have so far been carried out only to a limited degree because of lack of adequate measuring instruments. A method is described which enables measurement and recording electronically of the creep properties, including the elastic recovery time and the permanent deformation, of elastic impression materials in relation to their degree of setting and to the size and time of the induced deformation. The apparatus and the experimental and mathematical methods described can easily be handled by a reasonably skillful laboratory assistant.