Assessment of whole saliva flow rate in denture wearing patients

It has been suggested that salivary flow rate decreases with age. As is known, the presence of a thin salivary film layer is essential for the comfort of the mucosa beneath a denture base and for denture retention. The purpose of this study was to determine the flow rates, viscosity and the pH of resting and stimulated whole saliva before and after prosthetic treatment in complete denture wearing patients. Saliva was collected under clinical conditions between 08.00 and 10.00 hours. The flow rates of whole saliva were measured at three stages: (i) resting and stimulated saliva before prosthetic treatment; (ii) immediately after the first wearing of the complete denture; and (iii) resting and stimulated saliva after 2 or 3 months of wearing the complete denture. Saliva production was stimulated by chewing paraffin wax. Flow rate was calculated as collected volume/collection time. It was found that there was a significant difference between resting and stimulated whole salivary flow rates before and after complete denture wearing.

Bond strength and failure analysis of lining materials to denture resin

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to investigate the bonding properties of five lining materials to a denture base resin. Two hard (chemical-cured resin: Kooliner "Coe Labs, USA" and light-cured VLC resin: Triad "Dentsply, USA") and three soft (chemical-cured resin: Express "Alcos,-USA", heat-temperature vulcanized 'HTV' silicone material: Molloplast-B "Regneri GmbH, Germany" and room-temperature vulcanized 'RTV' silicone material:Ufi Gel-P "Voco, Germany") liners were used.

METHODS

Paladent 20 "Heraeus Kulzer GmbH, Germany", a conventional heat-cured polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), was used as the denture base resin and as the control material. Bonding strength and adhesion properties of the liners to PMMA were compared by tensile test and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. After curing, an aging process was applied and the samples were immersed and stored in distilled water at 37 +/- 1 degrees C and taken out at certain aging intervals (at 0, 15, 30 and 90 days) for examination. Specimens (168) were processed for tensile tests and other specimens (24) for fracture tests. The mean and standard deviation values were calculated. Changes in the mechanical properties and the SEM findings of the adhered surfaces were evaluated.

RESULTS

Triad (a hard liner) has the closest tensile strength to the control, indicating the strongest bonding between the base and the liner. Also, during the aging process, formation of better adhesion was observed in SEM micrographs. From the SEM analysis it was found that, Molloplast-B (a soft liner) also has a very good filling capacity.

SIGNIFICANCE

Among the hard lining materials, VLC resin to chemical-cured resin; and among the soft lining materials, HTV resin to RTV and chemical-cured ones should be preferred for relining procedures. Molloplast-B and Express as resilient liners were found to have adequate adhesive values for clinical use.

Wetting properties of saliva substitutes on acrylic resin

The good wetting of the acrylic resin by saliva substitutes is of clinical importance in xerostomic patients. This study evaluated the wetting properties of different artificial saliva formulations that were mucin-based, carboxymethylcellulose-based, and concentrated ion-based on poly(methyl methacrylate) denture base resin, and compared these properties with natural saliva. The wetting properties of the test materials were examined by contact angle measurements. Ninety-six samples that measured 30 x 30 x 3 mm were examined. The wetting properties of mucin-containing and carboxymethylcellulose-containing substitutes on poly(methyl methacrylate) were significantly better than those of human saliva. Mucin-containing artificial salivas had the best wetting properties on the acrylic resin for the materials tested.