(Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) Or Composite Resins

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Denture teeth can be made of acrylic poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) or composite resins. PMMA is a polymer - a material made the from joining of methyl methacrylate monomers. Properties of PMMA include resistance to abrasion, chemical stability and a high boiling point. (Jun Shen et al. 2011). However, weak flexure and impact strength of PMMA are of concern as they account for denture failure. (Bolayir G, Boztug A and Soygun K. 2013). Composite denture teeth are made of a three distinct phases - filler, matrix and coupling agents. Out of the types of composite teeth available, nano-filled composite teeth are preferred. Composite teeth have a PMMA coating around the tooth and a high content of filler particles. This gives them strength, higher resistance to forces than acrylic teeth and provides compete polymerization due to the PMMA coating. (Anusavice, K. J., Phillips, R. W., Shen, C., & Rawls, H. R, 2012). If the interface between the PMMA denture base and PMMA or composite teeth was weak, the denture will not be able to sustain occlusal forces, making the base-teeth interface, an entity of significance.

The contraction moulding method can be used to process an acrylic denture base. In this method, bite blocks are fabricated in the lab and sent to the clinic for patient trial. These are then received from the clinic and teeth are mounted onto the bite blocks. The wax is eliminated and teeth are pressurized and attached onto a gypsum mould. (McCabe and Walls. 2008.) Sodium alginate is applied onto the mould to act as a separator to prevent any monomer from the acrylic base seeping into the base and the mould. Acrylic PMMA is applied onto the mould and either heat-cured or auto-polymerized. Both of these curing methods form the...

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...an be seen that composite teeth form a high stability bond than PMMA teeth. This is due to the filler content allowing for low shrinkage, increased wear resistance and better cross-linkage with the base. In overall consensus the technique of heat-curing is believed to achieve significantly more polymer cross-linkage than that of self-curing the acrylic resin PMMA base - giving us a stronger base to teeth interface. It should be noted however that both techniques can be used for denture fabrication to achieve a desired result and it is up to the dentist and the technician to determine which one they prefer however, composite teeth bonded to a heat-cured PMMA base works best. Though the tooth and base by themselves may be strong, if the interface between them is not strong, this will result in the overall denture produced being weak independent of material selection.

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