Aim: This research aimed to clinically investigate the microbecidal power of silver nano-par­ticles modified autopolymerized soft lining material for acquired palatal defect obturator wearers.
Materials and methods: A total of sixteen patients with acquired palatal defect were selected from the Mansoura Oncology center and referred to the Removable Prosthodontics Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University. For each patient, immediate surgical obturator was constructed and then replaced by temporary obturator two weeks after the surgery. At definitive abturator construction, random assigning of patients into two equal groups (eight patients each) was done. Within patient cross over study design was followed with respect to silver nanoparticles (AgNps) percentages added to the self-cure soft liner material where: Patient's obturators in group I were lined with untreated soft liner followed by modified soft liner with 0.05 % loading by weight of AgNps added to 5gm of the polymer powder followed by modified soft liner with 0.2 % loading by weight of AgNps for one month of each soft liner application. In group II the sequence was reversed. Microbiological investigation was performed to identify bacterial colonization count related to different soft liner samples.
Results: The highest mean of bacterial count was recorded with the soft liner samples without AgNps additives [mean =( 762.5 ± 85.08) x103]; while the lowest mean recorded with soft liner with 0.2% AgNps by weight [mean = (0.634 ± 0.73) x103]. (ANOVA) test indicated a significant reduction in bacterial count within increased AgNps concentration. Wilks' lambda = 0.14, f = 40.75 and p = 0.001.
Conclusions: Within parameters of this study, it could be concluded that: Modification of autopolymerized acrylic-based soft liner with AgNps is a simple reliable method to enhance its bactericidal activity especially for obturator wearers. The antimicrobial efficacy of AgNps modified soft liner seemed to be concentration dependent.