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  • Essay / (Methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) or composite resins

    Denture teeth can be made of poly(methyl methacrylate) acrylic (PMMA) or composite resins. PMMA is a polymer, a material obtained from methyl methacrylate monomers. PMMA properties include abrasion resistance, chemical stability and a high boiling point. (Jun Shen et al. 2011). However, the low flexure and impact resistance of PMMA are of concern as they explain the failure of prostheses. (Bolayir G, Boztug A and Soygun K. 2013). Teeth in composite dentures are made up of three distinct phases: fillers, matrix and coupling agents. Among the types of composite teeth available, nano-filled composite teeth are preferred. Composite teeth have a PMMA coating around the tooth and a high content of filler particles. This gives them greater strength and resistance to forces than acrylic teeth and allows complete polymerization thanks to the PMMA coating. (Anusavice, KJ, Phillips, RW, Shen, C. and Rawls, HR, 2012). If the interface between the PMMA denture base and the PMMA or composite teeth was weak, the denture will not be able to withstand occlusal forces, making the base-tooth interface an important entity. The contraction molding method can be used to process an acrylic. prosthesis base. In this method, bite blocks are made in the laboratory and sent to the clinic for testing by patients. These are then received from the clinic and the teeth are mounted on the biting blocks. The wax is removed and the teeth are put under pressure and fixed onto a plaster mold. (McCabe and Walls. 2008.) Sodium alginate is applied to the mold to act as a separator to prevent any monomer from the acrylic base from seeping into the base and mold. PMMA acrylic is applied to the mold and either thermally cured or self-cured. These two curing methods form the middle of the paper...and we see that the composite teeth form a high stability bond compared to the PMMA teeth. This is due to the filler content allowing low shrinkage, increased wear resistance and better crosslinking with the base. It is generally agreed that the heat curing technique achieves significantly greater cross-linking of the polymer than self-curing the PMMA acrylic resin base, giving us a stronger base-tooth interface. It should be noted, however, that both techniques can be used in making dentures to achieve the desired result and it is up to the dentist and technician to determine which they prefer. However, composite teeth bonded to a thermoset PMMA base work best. Although the tooth and base themselves may be strong, if the interface between them is not strong, the overall prosthesis produced will be weak, regardless of material choice...