Energy absorption and hardness of chair-side denture soft lining materials

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hardness and energy absorption properties of four commercially available chairside silicone denture soft lining materials and to compare their properties with those of a heat-polymerized silicone denture liner. The denture lining materials investigated were four auto-polymerising silicone soft liners (GC Reline Soft, Ufigel SC, Elite Soft Relining and Tokuyama Sofreliner S) and a heat-polymerised silicone liner (Molloplast B). The soft liners were processed according to manufacturers' instructions. The specimens for hardness testing were 38 x 38 x 3 mm. The specimens for energy absorption test were 10 x 10 x 3 mm. In each test ten samples of each material were tested. There was strong evidence that Tokuyama Sofreliner S and, to a lesser extent, Ufigel SC, were less stiff and more resilient than Molloplast B. There was also strong evidence that both GC Reline Soft and Elite Soft Relining were harder than Molloplast B, while Ufigel SC and Tokuyama Sofreliner S were softer In conclusion differences existed between hardness and energy absorption properties of the soft lining materials.