Evaluation of hard direct reline resins

Peak curing temperatures of hard, direct, autopolymerizing reline resin materials tested were all within ADA specification guidelines. A temperature range of 10 degrees C was demonstrated among materials, with the highest polymerization temperatures recorded for Perm and Lang's Self-Curing Rebase Acrylic, and the lowest for KOOLiner, Flexacryl, and COE-Rect. This temperature difference is probably clinically detectable. However, intraoral testing of polymerization temperatures yielded lower peak values than those observed with specification testing, and the temperature peaks occurred earlier with intraoral conditions. There were significant color changes with simulated aging for three of the products tested: Flexacryl, COE-Rect, and Lang's Self-Curing Rebase Acrylic. The color changes occurred after only 24 hours of accelerated aging. Although there was only a small change in color with aging for Perm and KOOLiner, there was a moderate shift in the color of KOOLiner (delta E = 2.2) before aging. Thus only Perm demonstrated little color change with simulated aging. Of the reline products, one material, KOOLiner, demonstrated lower bond tensile strengths to denture base materials. However, the clinical significance of this was not known. One denture base material (Astron) recorded significantly higher bond strength values for all reline products and failure always took place within the denture base.