Effect of mechanical and chemical cleaning on surface roughness of silicone soft relining material

This study aims to investigate the effect of mechanical and chemical cleaning on the surface roughness of silicone soft relining materials.

We selected silicone soft relining materials with the highest (Soft) and lowest (Supersoft) Shore A hardness. In the abrasion test, specimens were cleaned 50,000 times using a kitchen sponge (Sponge), a soft (Soft brush) or hard (Hard brush) denture brush, or stored in water (No cleaning). In the immersion test, specimens were immersed in either water (Water), neutral peroxide denture cleanser (Neutral), alkaline peroxide denture cleanser (Alkaline), or hypochlorite denture cleanser (Hypochlorite) for 1440 h. Surface roughness of the arithmetic mean height of the surface (Sa) and maximum height (Sz) were measured before and after the tests. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests.

In the abrasion test, significant differences were observed for Sa and Sz with Soft relining materials, but not for No cleaning and Sponge. In the immersion test, significant differences were observed for Sa and Sz with Soft relining materials, but not between Water and Neutral or Water and Alkaline. Significant differences were observed with Supersoft, except between Water and Neutral or Water and Alkaline for Sa and between Water and Neutral for Sz.

Mechanical cleaning using a sponge did not increase the surface roughness of the material with a high Shore A hardness. Furthermore, neutral peroxide denture cleanser did not increase the roughness of materials with high and low Shore A hardness.