Surface roughness of acrylic resins after different curing and polishing techniques.

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a laboratory evaluation of the surface roughness of self-curing acrylic resin after different curing and polishing techniques.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixty specimens were separated into four groups. The conventional curing process was followed by a second curing cycle in a microwave oven to decrease the residual monomer levels in two groups. After curing, two groups received manual polishing and the other groups underwent chemical polishing at 70 degrees C for 10 seconds. Roughness analysis was performed in a mechanical and laser profilometer. Analyses by Bartlett, Shapiro-Wilk, and Dunnett tests were used to compare whether the mean of the response variable was the same in all groups.

RESULTS

The results suggested greater influences from the polishing method than the curing method and showed that the chemical polishing method yielded the highest surface roughness.

CONCLUSIONS

The average pattern of roughness of the self-curing acrylic resin was statistically the same in the groups with different curing methods. However, chemical polishing increases the average pattern of roughness.