Antimicrobial effect of silver nanoparticles on polypropylene and acrylic resin denture bases

BACKGROUND: The investigation of the antimicrobial action of Ag solutions in different surfaces has been performed, however, there is little data on the direct addition of those particles to the polypropylene denture base. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of silver nanoparticles in Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans colonization in acrylic resin and polypropylene denture bases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty test bodies (10×13×3 mm) were fabricated with (heat-polymerized) poly methyl methacrylate acrylic resin (group 1), (heat-polymerized) poly methyl methacrylate acrylic resin with silver nanoparticles (group 2), polypropylene (group 3) and polypropylene with silver nanoparticles (group 4). Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans colonization were performed. A colony count was performed in Colony Forming Unit (CFU/ml) and registered to calculate the arithmetical mean of the duplicate values of each sample. Data was analyzed by Lilliefors test and since samples did not present a normal distribution, Kruskal-Wallis for variance analysis with the value of significance set at p<0.05. RESULTS: For Candida albicans colonies, when comparing nano-Ag in polypropylene, there were statistical difference between groups 3 and 4. For the same type of growth in heat-polymerized PMMA resin with and without nano-Ag, no statistical differences were found. The presence of nanoparticles did not affect Streptococcus mutans growth in the heat-polymerized PMMA resin. Value differences of S. mutans were not significant for comparisons between groups 1-2 and 3-4. CONCLUSIONS: Silver nanoparticles presented antifungal activity against C. albicans in polypropylene surfaces, but not in the heat-polymerized PMMA resin. Silver nanoparticles did not present antibacterial activity against S. mutans in any of the analyzed surfaces. Key words:Removable Partial Denture, Candida, Streptococcus mutans.