elastomeric impression materials Flashcards
what are the 2 types of elastomers
- polyether
- addition silicones
why is elastic behaviour important in impression materials
When removing impression material (IM) from contact with a tooth - after its set - the IM has to stretch, flaring out at the slides to overcome the bulbous aspect of the tooth
Ideally it recovers to original dimensions, replicating the shape of the tooth ~ that is assuming it is perfectly elastic
what do you need to consider when choosing na impression material
• Material characteristics
○ Need to be aware of the degree of accuracy needed for your particular purpose
• Clinical performance ○ Patient acceptance § Working time § Setting time § Taste / smell of material ○ Ease of use for clinician
• Need to make a choice that best suits the specific circumstances
how do you assess materials
• Need to know how specific IM perform
• That means evaluating the product information available
○ For some manufacturers (eg 3M ESPE, Heraeus Kulzer), substantial documentation is provided on their websites ~ this can just be claims, better to have actual robust evidence
- Need to know what characteristics are important so you can interpret the data they give in a meaningful way
- Need to relate the data to other materials and the ideal properties
explain the chemistry in elastomers
Elastomers are formed by polymerisation with cross-linking of polymer chains
Cross-linking generates elastic properties
- Causes fluid to solid transition
• Polymerisation may produce by-products (H2O, H2, alcohol) which affect dimensional stability and cast compatibility
what are the types of elastomers
• Polysulphides (1950s)
○ We don’t use these now
• Silicones
○ Addition curing (1975)
§ This is the type we will focus on
○ Condensation curing (1950s) - ie conventional
• Polyethers (1965)
what material properties are useful for evaluation elastomers
• Surface detail (reproduction)
• Flow / viscosity
• Contact angle / wettability
These 3 affect the accuracy by which the surface features are recorded
• Elastic recovery (%)
• Stiffness (flexibility)
• Tear strength
These 3 affect the accuracy of the dimensions and shape of the final impression
• Mixing time (min)
• Working time (min)
These are practical considerations - they affect the clinician’s skill and working method, and will influence the choice, as will patient preferences
• Shore A hardness
○ This is a specific hardness test for IM
• Shark fin test (flow under pressure)
○ Relates to the ability of IM to deal with undercuts
• Setting shrinkage
○ Fundamental property
• Dimensional stability
○ Critical for producing an accurate positive replica using gypsum
• Thermal expansion coefficient
○ Plays a pivot role, as we can’t eliminate the temperature gradient between mouth and room temperature
• Biocompatibility
○ An essential requirement
○ It relates to patient’s safety
what is polyvinylsiloxane
addition silicone
when looking at a brochure for a material what do you need to ask yourself
Do you understand it
Does it make sense
What else do you want to know
what is hydrophilicity
how the material interacts in the presence of water;
what 3 properties are relevant when looking at the quality of surface interaction between material and tooth / soft tissue surfaces
- Viscosity
- Surface wetting
- Contact angle
what properties are relevant when looking at accuracy
- Surface reproduction (ISO)
- Visco-elasticity / elastic recovery
what properties are relevant when dealing with removal and undercuts
- Flow under pressure (“shark fin” test)
- Tear / tensile strength
- Rigidity
what properties are relevant when looking at dimensional stability
- Setting shrinkage
- Thermal expansion / contraction
- Storage
what does viscosity mean
A measure of material’s ability to flow
Vital for it to reach all the dental tissue’s surface area
• Determines a material’s potential for making close contact with hard / soft tissue surface –> so how well it records surface detail
- Has to flow readily without too much pressure being required
- Clearly viscosity influences the surface texture that is replicated
- Range:
- Low
- Medium
- High
what is surface wetting
Must make intimate contact with teeth / mucosa
what is contact angle
- Determines how well material envelops the hard / soft tissue surface (to record fine detail)
- The contact angle is an objective measure of how well the IM envelops the hard and soft tissue surfaces
what does the contact angle indicate
The contact angle indicates how readily the IM “wets” the tooth surface
Ie how closely the IM envelops the tooth surface
what does large contact angles result in
Large contact angle at surface, results in spaces between globules of impression material, so some of tooth surface not replicated
an IM has a high contact angle with a tooth surface is more likely to have gaps between each globule of material
so the IM won’t replicate the whole tooth surface
= not ideal
what does a low / small contact angle indicate
means a large percentage of its volume will make contact with the target surface - that is ideal
Small contact angle, no spaces between globules of impression material, so all of surface is replicated
In contrast, this IM has a low contact angle with the tooth surface, ensuring there are no gaps between each globule of the material
So the whole tooth surface is recorded = ideal
what are hydrophilic silicones
• Incorporate non-ionic surfactant
○ Wets tooth surface
○ More easily wetted by water containing die materials
• Initial addition silicones had some difficulties in making good contact with moist tooth surfaces
○ To overcome this, manufacturers introduced a non-ionic surfactant component
○ These are referred to as hydrophilic silicones
what is the international standard measure for surface reproduction of an IM
• There is an international standard measure for surface reproduction of an IM - ISO 4823
This measures how accurately the surface is represented
What does this test (for surface reproduction) involve
• This test involves placing IM along a surface which has grooves of specified width: 20, 50, 75um
- Pretty narrow
To conduct the test, a uniform pressure is applied across the width of the IM
if the IM cannot fill all the grooves / notches then it cannot reach narrow niches so the IM will not give the most accurate surface detail
how does a truly elastic material behave (ideal behaviour of elasticity)
when a load is applied at T=0 (as when removing an impression tray) the material stretches instantly to the strain required
This level of strain is maintained
Until the load is removed, and the IM returns instantly to its original dimensions -