Effect of Surface Treatment on the Flexural Strength of Denture Base Resin and Tensile Strength of Autopolymerizing Silicone Based Denture Liner Bonded to Denture Base Resin: An In Vitro Study

Silicone based denture liners are superior to acrylic based denture liners but it has a problem of failure of adhesion with the denture base. To evaluate the effect on the tensile bond strength of silicone based liner and flexural strength of denture base resin when the latter is treated with different chemical etchants prior to the application of the resilient liner. Rectangular specimens of heat cured PMMA (65 × 10 × 3.3 mm³) for flexural strength and (10 × 10 × 40 mm³) for tensile strength were fabricated and divided into four subgroups each. One subgroup of each type acted as a control and the rest were subjected to surface treatment with acetone for 30 s, MMA monomer for 180 s, methylene chloride for 15 s, respectively. Silicone based denture liner was processed between 2 PMMA specimens (10 × 10 × 40 mm³) in the space provided by a spacer, thermocycled (5^–55°C) for 500 cycles and then their tensile strength measurements and flexural strength measurements were done. 180 s of MMA monomer treatment was found to be most effective in improving the bonding between the liner and denture base resin as well as producing the lowest decrease in flexural strength of denture base resin. Chemical treatment of denture base resin improves the bond strength of denture liner but it also decreases the flexural strength of denture base. So careful selection of chemical etchant should be done so as to produce minimum decrease in flexural strength of denture base resin.