Impact of adding silver-doped carbon nanotube fillers to heat-cured acrylic denture base on flexural strength, contact angle and surface roughness

Acrylic resin, also known as poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), is still the preferred material to fabricate denture bases. Studies were conducted to enhance its mechanical and physical properties. The current in vitro study investigated the effect of adding 0.05 wt% Ag-doped carbon nanotube (CNT) fillers to a heat-cured PMMA-based denture base material on its flexural strength, contact angle, and surface roughness. A total of 60 heat-cured acrylic specimens were prepared. The specimens were divided into two groups ( n = 30/group), according to the additive used: (a) control group, using heat-cured PMMA; (b) treated group, using an additive powder prepared by mixing 0.05 wt-% Ag-doped CNT nanoparticles with heat-cured PMMA. The flexural strength (three-point bending test), contact angle (sessile drop method), and surface roughness (Microscope Image Analysis Software) for each group were evaluated ( n = 10/test for each subgroup). Data were analyzed using the independent sample t-test ( p ≤ 0.05). The flexural strength of the treated group with Ag-doped CNT (107.9 MPa) was significantly higher than that of the control heat-cured PMMA (70.8 MPa). Similarly, the contact angle of the treated group (101.9°) was significantly higher than that of the control group (80.8°). Regarding the average surface roughness (R a ), no significant difference was observed between the treated group (11.99 R a ) and the control group (12.42 R a ). Reinforcing heat-cured acrylic denture base with 0.05 wt-% Ag-doped CNTs enhances flexural strength and hydrophobicity without affecting surface roughness, making it a promising alternative to conventional denture base materials.