Effect of Adding Basalt Powder on Flexural Strength of a Denture Base Acrylic Resin

Abstract

Aim of study: Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is commonly used for the construction of removable partial or complete dentures because it has various advantages. However, it has also several limitations, one of these disadvantages is its poor mechanical property that causes denture base to break easily. The present study was to evaluate the effect of incorporating basalt powder (BP) into a conventional heat-cured acrylic resin in different concentrations on the flexural strength (FS) of the PMMA. Material and Methods: A compression moulding technique was used to process 40 rectangular acrylic resin specimens (64 mm length × 10 mm width × 3.3 mm thickness). Specimens were equally divided into four groups according to the ratio of basalt powder added to acrylic resin: group A: 0% wt (control group), group B: 1% wt, group C: 2% wt, and group D: 5% wt of BP. The specimens were tested using a three-point bend test. Collected data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at significant level of 0.05 to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the four independent groups. ANOVA was followed by Bonferroni test to determine which groups differed from each other. Results: Specimens reinforced by 1% wt BP (group B) exhibited a higher mean FS compared to the control group (group A) and the two other groups. Conclusions: It could be concluded that adding basalt powder up to 2% wt may improve the flexural strength of the acrylic resin. Introduction: