How Dentures Are Actually Made: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Dental Lab

When your dentist takes an impression of your mouth, that tray of putty-like material goes somewhere — but most patients have no idea where. It goes to a dental lab, where someone like me turns that impression into a finished set of teeth you can eat, talk, and smile with. Here's what actually happens.

Step 1: The Impression Arrives

Your dentist sends us an impression of your mouth — either a physical mold made from a material like PVS or alginate, or a digital scan file from an intraoral scanner. If it's a physical impression, I pour liquid stone into it and let it set. That produces a precise stone model of your mouth that I'll work from for the entire process.

If it's a digital scan, I import the file into design software and work directly on the 3D model. Either way, the goal is the same: an accurate map of your mouth.

Step 2: Custom Tray and Final Impression

For a complete denture, the first impression is usually a preliminary one. I use that model to create a custom impression tray — a tray made specifically for your mouth, not a generic stock tray. Your dentist uses this custom tray to take a more detailed final impression that captures the exact borders and tissue details the denture needs to fit properly.

Step 3: Bite Registration and Tooth Selection

From the final impression, I create wax rims — blocks of wax on a baseplate that fit your ridges. Your dentist uses these rims to record your bite: how your upper and lower jaws relate to each other, how wide your smile is, and where the midline falls. At the same time, the dentist selects a tooth shade and mold that match what you want your smile to look like.

Step 4: The Wax Try-In

This is where the denture starts to look like teeth. I set the selected teeth into wax on the baseplate, arranging them according to the bite registration and any notes from the dentist. The goal is to get the arrangement, the shade, and the overall look right before I commit to the final material.

Your dentist places this wax try-in in your mouth so you and your dentist can preview the result. Does the midline look centered? Are the teeth the right shade? Is the bite comfortable? If anything needs adjusting, now is the time. In our lab, we often do a 3D-printed try-in in tooth-shade resin instead of wax — it's more durable and gives a more realistic preview of the finished product.

Step 5: Processing the Final Denture

Once the try-in is approved, I invest the wax setup in a flask, boil out the wax, and pack the mold with acrylic resin. The flask goes into a curing unit where heat and pressure polymerize the acrylic into a hard, durable base. For 3D-printed dentures, I print the base directly from the digital design file and bond the teeth to it.

After curing, I deflask the denture, trim the excess material, and begin finishing: shaping the borders, smoothing the tissue surface, contouring the gum areas for a natural appearance, and polishing everything to a high shine.

Step 6: Quality Check and Delivery

Before any case leaves my lab, I check it against the original prescription. Does the bite articulate correctly? Are the borders smooth? Is the tissue surface clean and accurate? Does it seat properly on the model? Every case I fabricate gets this check — it's the last line of defense before it goes into a patient's mouth.

The finished denture is packaged and either delivered locally or shipped to the dental office. Your dentist places it, makes any final adjustments, and you walk out with new teeth.

Traditional vs. Digital: Two Paths, Same Goal

The traditional workflow I described above — physical impressions, stone models, wax try-ins — has been the standard for decades and still produces excellent results. But digital workflows are changing the process.

With a digital scan, I can skip the stone model entirely. I design the denture on screen, print a try-in in tooth-shade resin, and once approved, print the final base directly. It's faster, eliminates some sources of distortion, and lets me store the design file for future reference. If a patient needs a replacement in two years, I can reproduce it from the original file.

At Masons View, digital 3D printing is the foundation of how we work. But we also accept physical impressions — we'll work with whatever your dentist sends us.

Why It Matters Who Makes Your Dentures

Big corporate labs process thousands of cases a month. Your denture is one of many on a production line. At a small specialty lab like ours, I personally fabricate, inspect, and deliver every case. If something isn't right, I know about it before it leaves. That's the difference between volume and craft.