PURPOSE: Difficulty in cleaning resilient denture liners remains a material disadvantage. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of denture cleansers on hardness of resilient liner materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three resilient liners, Luci Sof® (Dentsply), Molloplast-B® (Dentax), and Sofreliner® (Tokuyama), and two denture cleansers, Efferdent® (Warner-Lamber), and 0.5% alkaline hypochlorite preparation were used. Twenty specimens of each material were prepared, measuring 25X15X3mm. Two denture cleansing approaches were used: 1) alkaline hypochlorite, for 20 minutes; 2) alkaline peroxide, for 30 minutes. This procedure was repeated 8 times a day, during 90 days. The specimens were evaluated before and after 360 and 720 cycles, to simulate 1 and 2 years of clinical cleaning procedures, respectively. The Shore A hardness was evaluated in a durometer (Teclock GS-709A), with a penetrating load of 10N for 1 second. Any macroscopic changes, such as loss of color or alteration in surface texture were recorded by one observer. All numeric data were subject to ANOVA with repeated measures followed by Tukey's test (alpha= 0.05). RESULTS: All materials were significantly different, independently to time and treatment. Initially, Luci Sof® and Sofreliner® immersed in either hypochlorite or peroxide increased the hardness mean values significantly. These hardness mean values decreased significantly after 720 cycles. Molloplast-B® showed no significant difference after the treatments, in any time. CONCLUSIONS: Denture cleansers had no effect on hardness of the resilient denture liners evaluated after 2 years of in vivo simulated conditions of hygiene. Sofreliner® was the smoothest material before and after all treatments.
Denture, complete; Resilient denture liner; Silicones; Hardness
