Influence of Thermocycling and Sealer Coating Application on Shore Hardness of Soft Denture Lining Material

BACKGROUND: One of the properties of the soft denture lining (SDL) material that needed to overcome the functional problems is softness. Loss of softness due to the aging process and to extend the duration of use, sealer coating was developed to maintain its softness. Sealer coating acts as mechanical barrier to provide protection against aging of SDL materials. AIM: This study aims to determine the influence of thermocycling and sealer coating application on the shore hardness of the acrylic-based and silicone-based auto-polymerizing soft denture lining materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Materials that were used in this study are acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL (Durabase Soft, Reliance Dental Manufacturing LLC, Illinois, USA) and silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL (Mollosil, Detax GmbH, Ettlingen, Germany). In this study, we used monopoly as sealer coating for acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL and varnish for silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL. Thermocycling was performed for 2000 cycles for a 2-year simulation time. For shore hardness test, a total of 40 discs shaped samples were made with a diameter of 35 mm and a thickness of 6 mm. The samples were divided into eight groups (n = 5), namely, the uncoated and non-thermocycling acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the coated and non-thermocycling acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the uncoated and thermocycling acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the coated and thermocycling acrylic-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the uncoated and non-thermocycling silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the coated and non-thermocycling silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL, the uncoated and thermocycling silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL, and the coated and thermocycling silicone-based auto-polymerizing SDL. The hardness test was carried out using the shore A durometer. RESULTS: The obtained data were tested using the independent t-test with a significance level of p < 0.05. The results showed that there was a significant effect between coated and uncoated acrylic-based SDL group that underwent thermocycling and in the silicone-based SDL group. The study showed that the hardness value was lower in both coated acrylic-based and silicone-based SDL groups compared to the non-coated group, so it can be concluded that the sealer coating is able to protect the hardness of SDL material against aging with a thermocycling simulation. The results also showed that there was a significant effect of thermocycling on the hardness of the material both in the coated acrylic-based SDL group, the uncoated acrylic-based SDL group, and the uncoated silicone-based SDL group. Study also showed that there was no significant effect of thermocycling in the coated silicone-based SDL group. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, it can be concluded that the use of sealer coating can maintain the hardness properties of both acrylic-based SDL and silicon-based self-polymerizing SDL so that it can increase the durability of SDL materials. However, the effect of sealer coating in protecting the hardness of SDL materials against aging was more evident in the silicone-based SDL group.