ACCURACY, DETAIL REPRODUCTION, AND HARDNESS OF GYPSUM CASTS PRODUCED FROM SILICONE IMPRESSIONS TREATED WITH GLOW-DISCHARGE

Plasma treatment has been reported to improve the wettability of silic one impression materials. This study investigated whether plasma treat ment of silicone impressions influenced the linear dimensional accurac y, detail reproducibility, and surface hardness of models produced fro m a type IV dental die stone. Five silicone impression materials were used in this study. Linear dimensional accuracy and detail reproductio n were tested according to ISO standards. Surface hardness was evaluat ed with a Vickers hardness test. The results indicated that plasma-tre ated impressions from Xantopren and Provil silicone impression materia ls had significantly smaller dimensional change than their respective controls, and the other materials were not influenced. The detail repr oduction was superior in casts produced from plasma-treated impression s from President silicone. Surface hardness was not influenced by the treatment. Plasma treatment of silicone impressions has no negative in fluence on the tested physical properties of die stone models.