Antifungal and physical characteristics of modified denture base acrylic incorporated with silver nanoparticles

Objective: This study evaluated the antifungal and physical characteristics of denture base acrylic combined with silver nanoparticles. Materials and methods: Polymerized denture acrylic disc specimens containing 0 (control), 1.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0 and 30.0 wt% of silver nanoparticles were placed on separate culture plate dish and 100 ÃL samples of yeast suspension of Candida albicans strain were inoculated on each specimens and incubated at 37°C, for 24 h. The antifungal effects were evaluated as a number of viable cells in retrieved fungal suspension. To characterize physical aspects, specimens were tested for elution of silver cation (Ag ⁺) at 24 h and 30th day, thermal analysis (TG/DTA), scanning electron microscope and energy dispersed X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX) and color stability. Results: Significant reduced CFU was exhibited at 20.0 and 30.0 wt% of silver nanoparticles incorporated (p < 0.01) and Ag ⁺ elution from specimens (maximum 0.356 ± 0.11 mg/L) contributed little to the antifungal activity considering MIC of Ag ⁺ in this study (3.0 mg/L). The successful synthesis of modified denture acrylic containing silver nanoparticles was accessed by TG/DTA and EDX analysis. Conclusion: The modified denture base acrylic combined with silver nanoparticles displayed antifungal properties and acted like latent antifungal material itself with low-releasing Ag ⁺, however, the improvement of poor color stability was still required.