Influence of the deflasking delay time on the displacements of maxillary denture teeth.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the displacement of teeth occurring in dentures following storage in water at a temperature of 37ºC. Ten maxillary dentures were constructed with Classico heat-cured acrylic resin using conventional metal flasks. Metallic reference pins were placed on the incisal border of the central incisors (I), buccal cusp of the first premolars (PM), and mesiobuccal cusp of the second molars (M). The acrylic resin was polymerized twelve hours after final flask closure in a water cycle at 74ºC for 9 hours. The flasks were removed from the thermo-curing unit after water cooling and then bench stored for 3 hours. After deflasking and finishing, the dentures were stored in water at a temperature of 37ºC for periods of 7, 30, and 90 days. Following deflasking and each storage period tested, the I-I (incisor to incisor), PM-PM (premolar to premolar), and M-M (molar to molar) transverse distances, and LI-LM (left incisor to left molar) and RI-RM (right incisor to right molar) anteroposterior distances were measured with a STM Olympus microscope, with accuracy of 0.0005 mm. Colleted data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey test (5%). No statistically significant difference was observed in the displacement of teeth in the transverse and anteroposterior distances.