Acta Biomedica Scientia

EFFECTS OF THREE BRANDS OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE TOPICAL SURFACTANTS ON THE SURFACE HARDNESS OF DENTAL STONE PRODUCED FROM POLYVINYLSILOXANE DUPLICATING MATERIAL - AN INVITRO STUDY

Nitin Rastogi, Tarun Gaur, Manish Kumar*, Alok Kumar

drmanishagarwalmds@gmail.com

Polyvinyl Siloxane duplicating material (PVS), Surfactants, Dental Stone.

Background and objective: A serious problem with the use of Polyvinyl Siloxane material (PVS) is their low surface energy which renders them difficult to wet with gypsum slurries. Laboratory applied surfactants as well as so called hydrophilic elastomers, are effective in reducing the hydrophobic nature of elastomers and increase the probability of obtaining a void free gypsum cast. With the above background the present study was aimed to investigate the changes in the surface hardness of a dental stone poured in polyvinyl siloxane moulds following the application of three brands of commercially available topical surfactants. Materials and methods: A cylindrical master model was made from an acrylic resin rod 20 mm in diameter and 35 mm in length. It was placed on a plastic sheet and seated centrally at the base of a casting ring former to create moulds. PVS duplicating material, Ecosil (Dentaurum) was mixed according to the manufacturer’s instructions and poured into the casting ring former to create four moulds. Fifteen specimens were poured into each of the moulds for each model material/ surface treatment combination, yielding a total of 60 specimens for testing. Brinell hardness test was performed using a universal testing machine and the results were compared using one way ANOVA and Post-hoc Tukey’s test. Results: Within the group 1, the surfactant Aurofilm (Bego) greatly increased the surface hardness of dental stone (BHN-69.2) when compared to the control group. The surfactants Debubblizer (Prime dental) and Waxit (Dentsply) increased the surface hardness of dental stone to a certain extent when compared to the control group. Conclusion: The surfactant Aurofilm was found compatible with PVS duplicating material (Dentaurum) and dental stone (Kalrock). The surfactants Debubblizer and Waxit were found compatible in dental stone group without significantly increasing the surface hardness.