The Impact of Incorporating Silicon Dioxide Nanoparticle Fillers into Polymethyl Methacrylate Denture Base Material on Flexural Strength

Abstract

Several previous studies have incorporated NPs-SiO2 at various concentration percentages in heat-cure PMMA to increase the mechanical properties of the denture base. Many researchers found out that adding NPs-SiO2 at low concentrations has shown enhancements in mechanical properties compared to higher concentrations percentages. This study was conducted to examine the impact of adding Silicon Dioxide as a nanoparticle filler at diver’s concentrations in heat-cured PMMA denture bases on flexural strength. Fifty specimens with dimensions (65 x 10 x 2.5 mm3) were fabricated from heat-cure-PMMA, and then specimens were divided into 5 groups according to different concentrations of NPs-SiO2. Each group consisted of 10 specimens. Moreover, 10 samples were prepared as a control group without any additives of NPs-SiO2 to PMMA. Three-point bending test was carried out using a universal testing machine to measure the flexural strength of specimens. Data analyses were conducted through analysis of variance and Tukey’s post hoc test (α = 0.05). The one-way ANOVA showed that there were statistically significant differences among groups (p<0.05). The highest flexural strength value was observed for the group (S1), with concentrations 0.5% by weight of NPs-SiO2 into PMMA. The control group showed a lower value of flexural strength than other groups. Low concentration percentages of NPs-SiO2 added to PMMA could increase the flexural strength of the PMMA denture base. According to the current investigation, 0.5% was the optimal concentration percentage for adding NPs-SiO2 to PMMA while maintaining an appropriate flexural strength value.