Evaluation of the Effect of Some Denture Cleansers on Hardness of Acrylic Denture Base and Teeth Materials

Aims: To evaluate the effect of some commercially available new denture cleansers on the hardness of acrylic denture base and teeth materials. Materials and method: Samples were prepared from heat cured acrylic resin denture base material and teeth. After that, half of the samples for each group were immersed for 1⁄2 hr per day in the denture cleanser throughout one month, the other half of the samples immersed for 8 hr per day in the denture cleanser through one month. The denture cleansers used are three solutions prepared freshly everyday for immersion of the samples. The hardness of the samples were tested by using Vickers hardness tester, the mean is taken for each group and evaluated by using one way analysis of variance test and Duncan's multiple range test to compare the groups. Results: The results demonstrated that there were significant differences in the hardness of acrylic resin denture base material with different denture cleansers and duration of immersion (P < 0.0001), and there were significant differences in the hardness of acrylic resin teeth with different denture cleansers and duration of immersion (P < 0.0001). The results also revealed that the cross linked teeth had a higher hardness value than the acrylic resin teeth. Conclusions: The type of denture cleanser and duration of immersion had an effect on the surface hardness of acrylic resin teeth and denture base materials. The cross linking of acrylic resin materials increase the resistance of the material to the action of solvents.