Formulation of tissue conditioners.

Dental tissue conditioners are compliant gels, formed in situ under a denture from a polymer powder and a plasticizer system. Hitherto, the powder has been poly(ethyl methacrylate) and the liquid a phthalate/ethanol mixture. These materials are temporary, because they harden from plasticizer leaching. The current work has been aimed at producing material with extended oral lifetimes. A range of n-butyl/ethyl methacrylate copolymers have been studied, together with various ester-ethanol liquid systems, with respect to gelation behaviour with various alcohols and esters, viscoelastic behaviour of the set gels, and water extraction. Materials based on poly(ethyl methacrylate) show that gelation speed depends upon particle size, and the degree of ball milling of the powder, and the molar volume of the plasticizer. Systems based on n-butyl/ethyl methacrylate copolymers need less or no ethanol in the liquid system, although gelation speed is very temperature dependent. The gels from these last materials are more compliant, and retain their compliance longer in aqueous media than those based on poly(ethyl methacrylate).