Translucency of nanoparticle-reinforced PMMA denture base material: An in-vitro comparative study

The aim of this study was to assess the translucency of denture base acrylic resin reinforced with zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂NPs), silicon dioxide (SiO₂NPs), and diamond (DNPs) nanoparticles. A total of 130 heat-polymerized acrylic discs (15×2.5 mm) were fabricated conventionally and divided into control and experimental groups according to nanoparticle type and concentration (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.5 wt%). Unmodified acrylic resin specimens served as control. All specimens were thermocycled (5,000 cycles). Translucency was measured using a spectrophotometer. ANOVA and post-hoc Turkeys' test were used for data analysis at α=0.05. The translucency of modified PMMA was significantly lower than control (p<0.05) except 0.5% ZrO₂NPs and SiO₂NPs (p>0.05) which exhibited the highest translucency values among modified groups. As the NPs concentration increased, the translucency decreased and the lowest value was seen with 2.5% DNPs (1.18±0.10). The addition of ZrO₂NPs, SiO₂NPs, and DNPs into denture base resin decreased the translucency.