Wettability of impression materials treated with disinfectants

The purpose of this investigation was to comprehensively compare various combinations of impression materials, die stones and disinfectants so as to provide clinical guidelines for selection of materials. The effect of immersion disinfection on the wettability of five types of impression materials, polyether, light-cured polyether urethane dimethacrylate, polysulfide, hydrophilic and hydrophobic polyvinyl siloxanes, was evaluated. This evaluation was determined by contact angle measurement of two die stones on the impression materials and also by bubble formation in casts made from the same materials after disinfection. The disinfectants utilized were 0.5% sodium hypochlorite and 0.13% glutaraldehyde-phenate. There were significant interactive effects (P less than 0.02) on contact angle between stone and disinfectant, impression and disinfectant, and impression and stone. The effect of disinfection was found to vary among impression materials. Although there was a significant correlation found between contact angle and bubble formation, contact angle was not found to be a strong predictor of bubble formation in this study. For these findings, it is recommended to evaluate each disinfectant and impression material combination individually.