Influence of Different Repair Acrylic Resin and Thermocycling on the Flexural Strength of Denture Base Resin.

Fractured acrylic denture base is a common occurrence in clinical practice. The effective denture repair procedure is cost-effective, time conserving, and results in lesser time without denture for the patient. Along with various reinforcements and surface modifications; different acrylic resins are investigated in improving the flexural strength of the fractured site. The aim of this study was to evaluate the flexural strength of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base repaired with heat-polymerized (HPA), auto-polymerized (APA) and light-polymerized acrylic (LPA) resins after thermocycling. Forty rectangular shaped (50 mm × 25 mm × 3mm) PMMA specimens were fabricated. Group 1 specimens ( = 10) were kept as controls and the remaining 30 samples were sectioned at the center with a repair site dimension of 3 mm. The samples from three groups ( = 10) were repaired with HPA, APA, and LPA resins, respectively. The specimens were thermocycled for 5000 cycles and subjected to a three-point flexural test. The maximum load required to fracture the specimens was recorded, and further analyzed with ANOVA and the Games-Howell Post hoc test at the significance level = 0.05. The average maximum load and flexural strength of the control group was 173.60 N and 13.02 Mpa and corresponding values for denture repaired with HPA was 87.36 N and 6.55 Mpa. The corresponding values for APA resin and LPA resins were 62.94 N, 57.51 N, and 4.72 Mpa, 4.06 Mpa, respectively. The PMMA specimens repaired with HPA resins resulted in a significantly higher load to fracture compared to APA resin and LPA resin.