Candida Albicans Adhesion of New Generation Denture Base Materials

ABSTRACT
Aim: Denture stomatitis, affecting approximately 65% of denture wearers, is a common symptom of oral candidiasis. With the advancement of digital dentistry, more contemporary materials are being used as denture base materials. The effect of Candida albicans adhesion on new-generation denture bases has not been investigated. This study aims to examine the adhesion of C. albicans to various dental polymers produced by different manufacturing methods and the effect of thermal cycling.
Materials and Methods: A total of 60 disk samples (10×2 mm) were produced for microbiological tests. The samples were divided into two subgroups for each material group (n = 10). Three different denture base materials were produced using different techniques: 3 dimensional (3D) printed denture base resin, Formlabs (FL); conventional heat-polymerized acrylic, Meliodent (MD); and milled pre-polymerized polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) resin disc manufactured using computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology, Ivobase (IB). Before and after thermocycling, specimens were tested (5000 cycles, 5 °C/55 °C). The adhesion of C. albicans on the samples was examined under a microscope. Surface images of all groups were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Post-hoc Tukey test and two-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.
Results: The CAD/CAM milled group and the 3D printed group showed significantly less C.albicans adhesion compared to the heat-polymerized acrylic resin. The effect of thermal cycling on microbial adhesion was found to be insignificant for all groups tested.
Conclusion: Candida infections and associated denture stomatitis are less common in new-generation denture base materials compared to conventional heatpolymerized acrylic. To reduce microbial adhesion, denture base materials produced by 3D printing and milled by CAD/CAM could be a better choice.
Keywords: 3D printing; Candida albicans; denture base; thermal cycling