SALIVA WETTING OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF DENTURE BASE RESINS: PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Direct, tissue-borne, full denture restoration of edentulous arches has become a well accepted restoration modality for millions of people. In this methodology, the tissue-bearing surface of a polymeric material replacing the form and structure of lost alveolar bond and overlying mucosa rests directly on the residual ridge tissue. Retention of the denture is attained through capillary adhesion forces acting to wet (cover) both the oral mucosa and the polymeric denture bases that rests upon it. Good wetting by saliva is thus one of the many critical features affecting adhesion of the denture base to the oral mucosa. Measurement of the ability of a fluid to wet a surface is performed using the shape of a fluid droplet on that surface. If the fluid wets that surface, then the droplet will spread out. If the fluid does not wet that surface, it will bead up. Quantitative measurement of fluid flow on a surface is performed using measurement of the “contact angle.” In this method, a controlled volume is dispensed onto a surface, and while viewing the interaction of that fluid in silhouette, the angle formed at the tangent of that drop and the flat surface is determined. The lower the contact angle, the more a fluid wets a surface, and the higher its value, the less wetting is that fluid on a specific surface.