Approximately 20,000 impressions are made with alginate annually at the University Dental Hospital of Manchester alone, and countless more wherever clinical dentistry is practised. A proportion of these are considered unsatisfactory for clinical use. The reason for these 'failures' is often poor operator technique, rather than an inherent problem of the material. With improved handling of the material and better clinical technique, failures can be avoided. This paper provides an overview of the use of alginate impression material in clinical dentistry.