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Updated: Sep 21, 2025

Impact of Fabrication Techniques and Polishing Procedures on Surface Roughness of Denture Base Resins
Published on: January 17, 2025
Physical, Mechanical, and Anti-Biofilm Formation Properties of CAD-CAM Milled or 3D Printed Denture Base Resins: In
Rodrigo Falcão Carvalho Porto de Freitas1, Simone Duarte2, Sabrina Feitosa3
1Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
Purpose:
To investigate surface characteristics (roughness and contact angle), anti-biofilm formation, and mechanical properties (mini-flexural strength) of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) polymer, and three-dimensional (3D) printed resin for denture base fabrication compared with conventional heat polymerized denture base resins.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 60 discs and 40 rectangular specimens were fabricated from one CAD-CAM (AvaDent), one 3D printed (Cosmos Denture), and two conventional heat polymerized (Lucitone 199 and VipiWave) materials for denture base fabrication. Roughness was determined by Ra value; the contact angle was measured by the sessile drop method. The biofilm formation inhibition behavior was analyzed through Candida albicans adhesion, while mini-flexural strength test was done using a three-point bending test. The data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics (α = 0.05).
Results:
The CAD-CAM PMMA group showed the lowest C. albicans adhesion (log CFU/mL: 3.74 ± 0.57) and highest mini-flexural strength mean (114.96 ± 16.23 MPa). 3D printed specimens presented the highest surface roughness (Ra: 0.317 ± 0.151 μm) and lowest mini-flexural strength values (57.23 ± 9.07 MPa). However, there was no statistical difference between CAD-CAM PMMA and conventional groups for roughness, contact angle, and mini-flexural strength.
Conclusions:
CAD-CAM milled materials present surface and mechanical properties similar to conventional resins and show improved behavior in preventing C. albicans adhesion. Nevertheless, 3D printed resins present decreased mini-flexural strength.

