Gagging during impression making: techniques for reduction.

Unlabelled: In everyday dental practice one encounters patients who either believe themselves, or subsequently prove themselves, to be gaggers. Gagging is most frequently experienced during impression making, but is also reported during the taking of radiographs, in the placement of restorations in posterior teeth and, in some individuals, the insertion of a finger for examination purposes. This paper describes some techniques that can easily be mastered by clinicians that may help both operator and patient avoid this unpleasant occurrence.

A generalisation of the tail-based P-value to characterise the conformity of trinomial proportions to prescribed norms.

The traditional concept of a P-value comparing an observed binomial probability to a prescribed value is extended to the ordered trinomial case in which target proportions have been specified for 'excellent', 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' quality. The resulting trinomial probabilities are summarised by calculating two aggregate probabilities, relating to outcomes unequivocally better than, and unequivocally worse than, that actually observed, based on these assumed target proportions. Accumulations of exactly calculated tail probabilities on a mid-P basis are recommended.