EFFECT OF LASER TREATMENTS ON THE STRENGTH OF DENTURE BASE REPAIR

Purpose: the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of er;cr;ysgg laser treatment with different energy levels before sandblasting and grinding on the transverse strength of denture base resin repaired with autopolymerizing resin. material and methods: a total of seventy rectangular specimens (65x10x3.3 mm) were prepared from heatpolymerized acrylic resin, which was repaired with autopolymerizing resin following conditioning methods: a) without surface treatment (control) b) grinding, c) sandblasting, d) er;cr;ysgg laser at 3 w-20 hz + grinding, e) er;cr;ysgg laser at 3 w-20 hz + sandblasting, f) er;cr;ysgg laser at 4 w-20 hz + grinding, g) er;cr; ysgg laser at 4 w-20 hz + sandblasting. the transvers strength was measured by a three-point bending test using a universal testing machine. data were analyzed using 1-way anova and tukey’s post hoc test (p<0.05). results: er;cr;ysgg laser application at 4 w-20hz before sandblasting occured significantly higher values (30.48±7.66 mpa) when compared to the control group (15.48±4.32 mpa) (p<0.001). grinding demonstrated the lowest values (9.38±4.62 mpa) among all the groups. sandblasting showed significantly higher values than grinding (p<0.01). laser application at 4w-20 hz + sandblasting demonstrated significantly higher strength values than sandblasting alone (p<0.05). conclusions: surface pretreatments before repairing significantly affect the transvers strength of repaired denture base resin. er;cr;ysgg laser pretreatment at 4 w-20hz before sandblasting may be useful to increase the transvers strength of denture base repairs.