Antifungal Effect: Comparison of Commercial Denture Cleansers and Microwave Energy

Aims: To evaluate the ability of commercial denture cleanser on decreasing Candida albicans biofilm and comparing this with microwave sterilization technique on heat cured acrylic resin denture base material which was cured by two different techniques. Materials and Methods: thirty two samples of heat cured acrylic resin denture base material had been used, half of them was cured by conventional water bath technique, and the other half by microwave technique. A simple method to measure Candida biofilm activity using pH change of Stomastat. Modified Sabouraud broth developed and used to evaluate the efficacy of the following denture cleansers: Chlorhexidine 0.2% and sodium hypochlorite 0.5%, and microwave sterilization on Candida albicans biofilm. The initial number of yeasts inoculated was correlated with pH value of Stomastat after 24 hours incubation period. Results: The acrylic resin samples that cured by conventional water bath technique were most effectively disinfected by chlorhexidine 0.2%. This demonstrated by increasing the pH value of Stomastat significantly than the control group. The same result was obtained with those samples which were cured by microwave oven. The initial number of Candida albicans cells in Stomastat was significantly decreased than the control group after treatment of acrylic samples with denture cleansers and microwave sterilization technique, while for those samples that cured by microwave technique the least number was obtained after treatment with chlorhexidine 0.2%. Conclusion: Both of chlorhexidine 0.2% and sodium hypochlorite 0.5% and microwave technique had the ability to disinfect acrylic samples that cured by water bath and microwave techniques effectively. However, chlorhexidine 0.2% was the most effective one.