High-performance liquid chromatographic estimation of eluates from denture base polymers.

A quantitative analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography is developed to estimate elution profiles of dental acrylic polymers used for denture bases. The method is applied to elution studies in distilled water of resins polymerized by different representative methods. Elution properties or 'leachabilities' vary depending on polymerization conditions. Methyl methacrylate, methacrylic acid and benzoic acid are eluted from autopolymerized resins at the highest eluate concentrations and are followed by heat- and microwave-polymerized resins. These results appear to be comparable to residual amounts of the eluates in resins and their cytotoxic potencies reported.