Antimicrobial Efficacy of Irreversible Hydrocolloid Impression Impregnated with Silver Nanoparticles Compared to Surface Disinfected Impressions - An In vivo Study

BACKGROUND: Routine disinfection procedures have shown to cause incomplete disinfection and detrimental effects on dimensional properties of the impression. Hence, self-disinfecting impression materials impregnated with antimicrobial agents were developed. PURPOSE: The purpose is to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) impregnated in irreversible hydrocolloid (IH) impression material in in vivo conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study comprised of four groups-IH impressions disinfected by immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde, IH impregnated with AgNPs of sizes 80–100 nm and 20–30 nm, nondisinfected impressions as control. Five impressions were made for each group and a total of 20 impression samples were made. The antimicrobial action of each sample was assessed by counting the number of colony forming units and by disc diffusion method. RESULTS: The results were obtained and the data were statistically analyzed by Kruskal–Wallis test and tabulated. The results revealed that AgNPs of size 80–100 nm when impregnated in irreversible impression material showed effective antimicrobial action. CONCLUSION: The anti-microbial action of 80–100 nm AgNP impregnated IH impressions is comparable to that of impressions disinfected by immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde for 10 min.