A comparative evaluation of the flexural strength and surface hardness of CAD/CAM fabricated and conventional denture bases

TL;DR

This study compares the strength and hardness of denture bases made using CAD/CAM technology and traditional methods, finding that CAD/CAM resins perform better.

Contribution

The study provides a direct comparison of mechanical properties between CAD/CAM and conventional denture base resins.

Findings

CAD/CAM resins showed significantly higher flexural strength and surface hardness than conventional HP resins.

Among CAD/CAM resins, MHC had the lowest flexural strength and surface hardness compared to other groups.

The mechanical properties of milled CAD/CAM resins outperformed heat-polymerized acrylic resin.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the flexural strength and surface hardness of denture base resins that have been milled using computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing milling (CAD/CAM) and conventional heat-polymerized denture base resins (HP).

Eighty samples were made using CAD/CAM resin material (Polident CAD/CAM and Interdent CC discs) and conventional heat-polymerised acrylic resin (HP) (IvoBase CAD and PMMA). Based on the denture base material, the samples were categorised into eight groups: each group (n = 10), flexural strength (n = 40), surface hardness (n = 40). Both the surface hardness and flexural strength were evaluated using the Vickers hardness test and the three-point flexure test, respectively. A statistical analysis with a significance level of α = 0.05 was used to analyze the data.

Compared with HP resins, milled CAD/CAM resins demonstrated significantly higher flexural strength and surface hardness (p < 0.001). The flexural strength of MHC 72.72 ± 5.95 is significantly lower than that of IHC 78.96 ± 3.36, PCC 108.59 ± 6.51, and VCC 99.88 ± 6.05 MPa. Surface hardness is significantly lower in MHC (18.40 ± 2.28 VHN) than in the other groups: IHC (21.30 ± 2.40 VHN), PCC (31.07 ± 2.07 VHN), and VCC (27.09 ± 1.55 VHN).

Compared with heat-polymerized acrylic resin, milled CAD/CAM resins performed exceptionally well in terms of flexural and surface mechanical properties.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-026-07846-1.

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