Year : 2020

Volume : Volume 11

Issue : Issue 1

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Namratha Lakshmi Agnihotri.
namrathaagnihotri@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  To compare and evaluate the flexural strength, flexural modulus, impact strength and hardness between three injection-moulded flexible denture base materials and a conventional compression heat polymerized acrylic denture base material. Materials and methods: Two injection-moulded flexible denture base materials were investigated in this study - Valplast, and iFlex. A conventional compression-moulded heat polymerized PMMA was used as a control. With the help of machine-made aluminium dies of dimensions 65 x 10 x 3.5 mm, 20 specimens were fabricated for each type of denture base material and divided into 3 groups; Group 1 - Valplast; Group 2 - iFlex and Group 3 - Acralyn-H. The specimens were further subdivided into 2 groups containing 10 specimens each for evaluating flexural strength and hardness, respectively. Prior to testing, all the specimens were stored in artificial saliva at room temperature for 50 hours. The data obtained were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results and Conclusion: Polymethyl methacrylate (acrylic resin) in the field of prosthetic dentistry is the most indispensable and versatile material. Results showed that all the three flexible denture base materials had significantly lower flexural strength compared to the control PMMA. The Vickers hardness test of Valplast, IFlex and iFlex exhibited lower values and showed that the rigidity of these materials was inferior to the conventional PMMA but comparable with each other. Thus, it was observed that each of the materials possessed moderately similar and/or differing properties.

Keywords: Flexible Material, Flexural Strength, Hardness, Denture Base.