Comparison of techniques for reinforcing stone molds used to construct facial prostheses.

Dental stone molds are convenient for fabricating facial prostheses, but they tend to break when repeatedly used to make duplicate prostheses. This study investigated the use of an inexpensive plastic mesh, die hardener, and PVC pipe segment to reinforce stone mold test samples that were broken in compression on an Instron testing machine. The samples reinforced with PVC pipe surpassed the load limit of the Instron machine. The samples reinforced with both die hardener and mesh were 13% more resistant to breakage than the control samples made of stone alone. Samples reinforced only with mesh were 3% weaker than the control samples.