Complete denture retention. Part II: Wettability studies on various acrylic resin denture base materials

The objective of this study was to characterize in vitro selected acrylic resin denture base materials by water-contact angle measurements. The sessile drop method and the underwater-bubble method were used. The results obtained from these measurements are discussed in terms of contact angle and polymer-water work of adhesion hysteresis. On polished heat-polymerized samples this hysteresis results from the reorientation of superficial polymer chains. The combined effect of increased sample roughness and of the entrapment of water droplets in the pores of material gives rise to the highest contact-angle hysteresis observed on sand-abraded samples. On the basis of physical analysis of the mechanism involved in complete denture retention, developed in Part I of this work, it is believed that the sand-abraded material is the most convenient for the retention of the complete denture.