[Adhesion of dental silicone rubber material to thermoplastic material for mouthguards]

A preliminary study revealed that an autopolymerization addition silicone resilient denture relining material (SI) had excellent shock absorption properties similar to those of thermoplastic materials commonly used for mouthguards (ethylene-vinyl acetate: EVA). The aim of the present study was to examine the bonding strength of SI and EVA using a newly-developed adhesive prototype. Delamination tests and tensile strength tests were performed to compare the bonding strengths of SI on EVA prepared under the following four conditions: 1) Control condition (no preparation; C), 2) Sandblasting (S), 3) Bonding with the adhesive prototype (M), and 4) Combination of sandblasting preparation and bonding with the adhesive prototype (SM). The mean bonding strength (S. D.) of the delamination tests under the C, S, M and SM conditions were 0.167 (0.003) N/mm, 0.273 (0.034) N/mm, 0.242 (0.027) N/mm and 0.506 (0.113) N/mm, respectively. The mean bonding strength (S. D.) of the tensile strength tests under the C, S, M and SM conditions were 0.006 (0.011) MPa, 0.081 (0.105) MPa, 0.231 (0.069) MPa and 0.590 (0.041) MPa, respectively. Two-way analysis of variances and Tukey's HSD test detected that the combination of sandblasting preparation and bonding with the adhesive prototype significantly improved the bonding strength between SI and EVA. The results indicate that the self-curing addition silicone resilient denture relining material may adhere to the thermoplastic material prepared by combined application of sandblasting and the adhesive prototype, suggesting the potential of the dental silicone rubber material as a material for repairing mouthguards in clinical practice.