The Influence of Different Cleaning Methods on the Surface Roughness of “ThermoSens” Denture Base Material

The increased use of flexible dentures in the daily dental practice requires additional research regarding how different disinfection protocols affect the dentures surface characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate how different cleaning techniques under varying conditions affect the surface roughness (Ra) of “ThermoSens” denture base material. Forty flexible denture specimens with dimensions ø 10 mm were fabricated. They were divided into ten groups (T1-T10) depending on which disinfection method was used. All the specimens were immersed in artificial saliva over the course of 30 days and were cleaned using accessible products (soap, toothpaste, Protefix and Corega tablets). Each test body was then analyzed in four different surface areas using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the results were statistically prepared using IBM SPSS Statistics 26, Excel 2015 and EdrawMax 7. The control group (T1) showed the lowest Ra with average value of 17.4 nm. The use of cleaning tablets Protefix daily (T5) yielded mean values of 46.8 nm, which is more than double than that of the control group. The highest roughness was observed when using a soft brush and toothpaste daily (T8), five times higher (mean 100.6 nm) than that of the control group. The surface roughness of flexible denture base material “ThermoSens” significantly changes depending on the different cleaning protocol used.