Alginate impressions were obtained with an irreversible hydrocolloid impression material (Cavex Impressional; Cavex Holland, Haarlem, The Netherlands) and standard plastic trays. For each impression, the time required to mix the material and complete a full-mouth (maxillary and mandibular arches) impression was recorded.

After the each impression proscedure, to evaluate children's perspectives on the impression techniques, the perception questionnaire used in Burhardt's study was adapted for this research.5 The questionnaire was translated into Turkish to ensure cultural and linguistic appropriateness. The translated version underwent content validation through expert review to ensure its relevance and appropriateness for the target population. The perception questionnaire used in this study aimed to measure gag reflex, queasiness, difficulty to breathe, discomfort, time perception, stress, pain. Accordingly, 8 questions with 5-point Likert scale responses ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" were included (Figure-1). Additionally, the Visual Anxiety Scale (VAS) was employed to measure overall discomfort. For the VAS results, children were asked to score their perceived discomfort on a scale from 0 (no discomfort) to 10 (extreme discomfort).

After completing both of the impression proscedure, children were asked two questions regarding their preference: one closed-ended question "Which method did you prefer?" and one open-ended follow-up question "Why did you prefer this method?". The latter was used for thematic content analysis.