Background and Objectives: Fractured acrylic denture base is a common occurrence in clinical practice. The effective denture repair procedure is cost-effective, time conserving, and results in lesser time without denture for the patient. Along with various reinforcements and surface modifications; different acrylic resins are investigated in improving the flexural strength of the fractured site. The aim of this study was to evaluate the flexural strength of a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base repaired with heat-polymerized (HPA), auto-polymerized (APA) and light-polymerized acrylic (LPA) resins after thermocycling. Materials and Methods: Forty rectangular shaped (50 mm × 25 mm × 3mm) PMMA specimens were fabricated. Group 1 specimens (n = 10) were kept as controls and the remaining 30 samples were sectioned at the center with a repair site dimension of 3 mm. The samples from three groups (n = 10) were repaired with HPA, APA, and LPA resins, respectively. The specimens were thermocycled for 5000 cycles and subjected to a three-point flexural test. The maximum load required to fracture the specimens was recorded, and further analyzed with ANOVA and the Games-Howell Post hoc test at the significance level p = 0.05. Results: The average maximum load and flexural strength of the control group was 173.60 N and 13.02 Mpa and corresponding values for denture repaired with HPA was 87.36 N and 6.55 Mpa. The corresponding values for APA resin and LPA resins were 62.94 N, 57.51 N, and 4.72 Mpa, 4.06 Mpa, respectively. Conclusions: The PMMA specimens repaired with HPA resins resulted in a significantly higher load to fracture compared to APA resin and LPA resin.
Keywords: denture fracture; denture repair; flexural strength; light cure acrylic; polymethylmethacrylate; self-cure acrylic.