Dimensional changes in stone models simulating full crown preparations with adjacent teeth resulting from long-term immersion of medium-viscosity addition-type silicone rubber impressions in disinfectant solutions.

If impression materials could be immersed in disinfectant solutions for a longer period, then this form of disinfection would be easier to incorporate into dental preparation procedures. This study investigated the dimensional changes in stone models resulting from immersion of medium-viscosity hydrophilic addition-type silicone rubber impression material in disinfectant solutions for 30 min and 24 h. Impressions of a master die designed to simulate a full crown preparation with adjacent teeth were immersed in 2% glutaraldehyde and 0.55% ortho-phthalaldehyde solutions. The dimensional changes in the mesiodistal and buccolingual dimensions in the stone models were then measured using a three-dimensional coordinate system. It was found that the dimensional changes in the stone models caused by immersion of the impression materials were less than 15 μm. Immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde or 0.55% ortho-phthalaldehyde for 24 h was as clinically acceptable for medium-viscosity hydrophilic addition-type silicone rubber impressions as immersion for 30 min.