Vojdani M. and Giti R. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Sci., 2015 March; 16(1 Suppl): 1-9.

Review Article

Polyamide as a Denture Base Material: A Literature Review

Mahroo Vojdani a, Rashin Giti b

a
Biomaterial Research Center, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
b
Postgraduate Student, Dept. of Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

KEY WORDS ABSTRACT

Polyamide; The purpose of this article was to review the biocompatibility, physical, and mechan-
Denture base; ical properties of the polyamide denture base materials. An electronic search of sci-
Nylon entific papers from 1990-2014 was carried out using PubMed, Scopus and Wiley
Inter Science engines using the search terms “nylon denture base” and “polyamide
denture base”. Searching the key words yielded a total of 82 articles. By application
of inclusion criteria, the obtained results were further reduced to 24 citations recruit-
ed in this review. Several studies have evaluated various properties of polyamide
(nylon) denture base materials. According to the results of the studies, currently,
thermo-injectable, high impact, flexible or semi-flexible polyamide is thought to be
an alternative to the conventional acrylic resins due to its esthetic and functional
characteristics and physicochemical qualities.
It would be justifiable to use this material for denture fabrication in some cases such
as severe soft/ hard tissue undercuts, unexplained repeated fracture of denture, in
aesthetic-concerned patients, those who have allergy to other denture base materials,
and in patients with microstomia.
Although polyamide has some attractive advantages, they require modifications to
produce consistently better properties than the current polymethyl methacrylate
(PMMA) materials. Moreover, since there is a very limited knowledge about their
Received September 2014; clinical performance, strict and careful follow-up evaluation of the patients rehabili-
Received in revised form January 2014;
Accepted January 2015. tated with polyamide prosthesis is recommended.
Corresponding Author: Giti R., Dept. of Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of
Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Email: [email protected] Tel: +98-9171085682

Cite this article as: Vojdani M., Giti R. Polyamide as a Denture Base Material: A Literature Review. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Sci., 2015 March; 16(1 Suppl): 1-9.

Introduction tion of metal wires or plates, fibers, [5-8] metal inserts,

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has been the most [9] and modification of chemical structure. In recent
popular material used for denture fabrication since its years, nylon polymer has attracted attention as a denture
introduction in 1937. [1] It has several advantages such base material. Polyamide resin was proposed as a den-
as an excellent esthetic characteristic, low water sorp- ture base material in the 1950s. [10] Nylon is a generic
tion and solubility, adequate strength, low toxicity, easy name for certain types of thermoplastic polymers be-
repair, and a simple molding processing technique. longing to the class known as polyamides. These poly-
Nonetheless, it has some problems such as polymeriza- amides are produced by the condensation reactions be-
tion shrinkage, weak flexural, lower impact strength, tween a diamine NH2-(CH2)6-NH2 and a dibasic acid,
and low fatigue resistance. [1-4] These often lead to CO2H-(CH2)4-COOH. [11-15] Nylon is a crystalline
denture failure during chewing or when fall out of the polymer, whereas PMMA is amorphous. This crystal-
patient’s hand. In order to enhance some properties of line effect accounts for the lack of solubility of nylon in
PMMA, various efforts have been taken including addi- solvents, as well as high heat resistance and high

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Polyamide as a Denture Base Material: A Literature Review Vojdani M. and Giti R.

strength coupled with ductility. [16-17] Moreover, it Flexural Properties

was claimed that nylon materials have other advantages There are some studies that have evaluated the mechan-
including higher elasticity than common heat- ical properties like flexural strength, modulus of elas-
polymerizing resins, [12] toxicological safety for pa- ticity, deflection at breakage, and tensile strength of
tients with resin monomer and metal allergy, [18] use of nylon as a denture base material.
heat-molding instead of chemical polymerization to Yunus et al. in 2005 [19] evaluated some flexural
control the polymerization shrinkage and its related properties of a nylon denture base material (Lucitone
deformation. [18] On the other side, it is reported that FRS) compared with a conventional compression-
this material has several problems such as water sorp- molded heat-polymerized (Meliodent), a compression-
tion, surface roughness, bacterial contamination, warp- molded microwave-polymerized (Acron MC) and an
age, color deterioration, and difficulty in polishing. [19] injection-molded microwave-polymerized (Lucitone
The present study is a literature review to appraise some 199) PMMA polymers. They found nylon to have the
physical, mechanical and clinical properties of nylon/ lowest flexural modulus of 1714 MPa when not disin-
polyamide denture base materials. fected, while the disinfected specimens (with an oxy-
gen- releasing disinfectant solution had a higher value
Method of 1937 MPa. In this study, nylon showed a lower flex-
This study is a structured literature review of articles ural strength than the two compression-molded PMMA
published from 1990 to 2014. PubMed, Scopus, and polymers but a comparable value with Lucitone 199.
Wiley Inter Science databases were used to search “ny- Takabayashi in 2010 [20] compared some charac-
lon denture base” and “polyamide denture base” key teristics of six thermoplastic denture resin materials (thr-
words. The search was limited to English language pub- ee polyamide, two polycarbonate, and a polyethylene
lications. The articles were reviewed by two experts in terephthalate resin). In this study, flexural strength and
the field of prosthodontics. Searching the key words modulus of elasticity of polyamide type materials (Val-
yielded a total of 82 articles. As the inclusion criteria, plast, Lucitone FRS and Flexite Supreme) were lower
the publications had to be exactly related to the key than what was required according to the ISO standard.
words; no editorials and manufacturer-supported publi- However, they demonstrated great toughness and strong
cations were accepted for review process. By applica- resistance to fracture in comparison with conventional
tion of inclusion criteria, the obtained results further polymethyl methacrylate (Acron). Also the tensile
reduced to 24 citations that formed the basis for this strength test showed that polyamide can withstand stress
review (Figure 1). through a considerable degree of deflection. This char-
acteristic submitted the advantage for non-metal clasp
dentures because of providing retention through the use
of undercut on the remaining teeth, and thus alleviating
the denture pain caused by the excessive local pressure.
Hamanaka et al. in 2011, [21] compared some m-
echanical properties of two polyamides (Nylon 12 and
Nylon PACM12), one polyethylene terephthalate and
one polycarbonate with a conventional heat-polyme-
rized polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). They showed
that the two polyamides had the lowest values of flexur-
al strength at proportional limit as well as the lowest
elastic moduli between denture base resins. They also
found that Charpy impact strength was the highest for
Nylon PACM12, while Nylon 12 had low impact
strength. This study demonstrated that the mechanical
properties of injection-molded thermoplastic denture
Figure 1: Method of searching and selecting the articles

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Vojdani M. and Giti R. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Sci., 2015 March; 16(1 Suppl): 1-9.

bases differ from each other; hence, the clinicians denture made of polyamide resin had the lowest elastici-
should be well aware of these properties in order to ty; therefore, it was reasonable to think that this material
choose the most suitable one for an RPD without metal allowed for the most considerable displacement of den-
clasps that is suitable for each patient. ture and permitted the pressure to be applied under the
In 2012, Ucar et al. [22] evaluated some mechani- denture base. They concluded that this material needed
cal properties of a polyamide-based denture material to be reinforced by using metal frames in order to pre-
(Deflex) and contrast it with another injection-molded vent the deformations caused by occlusal forces.
PMMA base material and a conventional compression- Water sorption and water solubility
molded PMMA. The results revealed that the polyamide Lai et al. in 2003, [29] studied the color stability, stain
flexural strength was not significantly different from resistance and water sorption of one silicon, one copol-
compression-molded PMMA and that the flexural mod- yamide, and two heat-cured acrylic resins as removable
ulus of polyamide was lower than compression-molded gingival flange materials. In that study, copolyamide
PMMA material. The major connector of a removable (Flexite Supreme) had absorbed the greatest amount of
denture should be rigid enough to evenly distribute the water, whereas silicone showed the least water uptake
applied force on the denture. Therefore, it was empha- after 56 days of water storage.
sized that a lower flexural modulus (higher flexibility) In the study carried out by Takabayashi in 2010,
has been often a disadvantage from clinical standpoint. [20] water sorption of two of the tested polyamide mate-
[23-25] Another study in 2012 [26] reported that ther- rials (Valplast and Flexite Supreme) met the ISO stand-
mocycling significantly decreased the flexural strength ard (32 µg/mm3), but Lucitone FRS revealed the highest
and elastic modulus of one polyamide (Valplast), while water sorption due to the greater degree of hydrophilic
it significantly increased the same features in the other characteristics supported by the contact angle measure-
polyamide (Lucitone FRS). The impact strength of one ments. It is thought that the higher the amide group con-
of the polyamides (Lucitone FRS) also decreased by centration, the greater the water sorption. Therefore, it
thermocycling, revealing that thermal stress would af- has been suggested that the amide group concentration,
fect the mechanical properties of these materials. In the in the polyamide type denture base materials, could be
study performed by Soygun et al. in 2013, [27] mechan- adjusted to a level as low as that in popular industrial
ical and thermal properties of polyamide (Valplast) materials such as nylon 6 or 66. [20] On the other hand,
were compared with the conventional PMMA (control) in another study which was done by Shah et al. in 2014,
and fiber reinforced PMMA denture base materials. The the sorption and solubility of heat-cured polymethyl
results of the transverse test were determined by the methacrylate denture base resin and flexible denture
three-point flexure test on a computer-aided universal base resin were compared and it was found that heat-
test device; it showed that the polyamide based denture cured PMMA had more sorption and solubility values
base material (Valplast) had the highest transverse than flexible (thermoplastic polyamide nylon) resin.
strength (117.22± 37.8 MPa), and no fracture was ob- [30] The study suggested that since the contact angle
served in these specimens. The values of modulus of between the flexible resin and water was high with low
elasticity in all experimental groups were lower than surface free energy, their water repellency was also
that of the control group. It was also observed that the high, and these all resulted in lower water sorption val-
values of maximum impact strength were the highest for ues. Likewise, it was mentioned that there was a strong
polyamide and it was much higher than the other hydrogen bonding between amide groups and a reduc-
groups. This could be attributed to the chemical struc- tion in attachment areas for water molecules; therefore,
ture properties of Valplast which enables it for a better the amount of water sorption in flexible resin was lower
force absorption and is different from those of PMMA. than conventional PMMA. The higher residual mono-
In 2013, Wadachi et al. [28] compared the rigidity of mer contents were mentioned as a cause for the higher
dentures made of a polyamide resin (Valplast), a polyes- solubility levels of PMMA. [30]
ter resin (Esthe Shot) and a conventional heat- Hardness
polymerized resin (Physio Resin). They showed that the Ucar et al. in 2012 [22] compared the hardness of a pol-

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Polyamide as a Denture Base Material: A Literature Review Vojdani M. and Giti R.

yamide based denture material (Deflex) with another was shown with red wine followed by coffee; Transflex
injection-molded PMMA base material and a conven- showed a significant color change after 15 and 30 days
tional compression-molded PMMA. The results of the of immersion in Cola. The larger color changes for ny-
study on Deflex specimens were found to be much low- lon denture base materials would be related to their hy-
er than other materials and that material was not as hard groscopic and also higher water sorption properties. [32-
as other materials. In the study by Shah et al. (2014) 33] It was found that the frequency of amide groups
[30] PMMA demonstrated higher hardness values when along the chain had affected the water sorption and the
compared with flexible resin. This result might be at- chemical properties of each type of nylon. [29] Another
tributed to a high monomer-polymer ratio, the attach- attributed reason could be the differences in finishing
ment of this material, and the presence of methyl- and polishing of nylon materials compared to PMMA.
methacrylate monomer. Moreover, cross-linking agents Rougher surfaces are more susceptible to staining. [34-
may exist in the material. Flexible resin demonstrated 36]
lower hardness values and also possessed lower Bond strength to other materials
amounts of cross-linking agents, indicating that cross- Auto-polymerizing resin is often used as reline or repair
linking agent may affect surface hardness. material for PMMA denture base, [37] but there are
Color stability and stain resistance very limited studies in regard to bonding of polyamides
In the study of Lai et al. in 2003, [29] the color stability to auto-polymerizing resin materials.
of 1 copolyamide (Flexite Supreme), 1 silicone (Gingi- Katsumata et al. in 2009 [38] studied the shear
vamoll) and 2 heat-polymerized acrylic resins (QC-20 bond strength of an auto-polymerizing resin to a nylon
and Vertex) as removable gingival flange materials denture base polymer (Lucitone FRS) subjected to dif-
were evaluated by a spectrophotometer after 7, 14, 30, ferent surface treatments and compared it with a heat-
120, and 180 days of immersion in staining solutions of polymerizing resin and a polycarbonate polymer. The
coffee and tea. Copolyamide had the greatest staining in surface treatment methods were alumina sandblasting,
tea solution, the silicone material in coffee solution. The resin primer coating, alumina sandblasting plus resin
color of all materials remained in air and water for 6 primer coating, and silica coating with Rocatec system.
months, showing that extrinsic stains had played a ma- They also evaluated the effect of thermal cycling in this
jor role in the discoloration of the materials in this property. For the nylon polymer specimens, thermal
study. The color changes of silicone and copolyamide cycling significantly reduced the bond strength of all
materials stored in coffee solution for 180 days were groups except for the groups of silica coating with
greater than 3 NBS (National Bureau of Standards) Rocatec system, in which no significant difference was
units, which would be characterized considerable and found between thermal cycled and non-thermal-cycled
deliberated clinically unacceptable. Takabayashi et al. specimens. This result clearly showed that the silica
in 2010 [20] compared the color stability of six thermo- coating could improve the bonding strength of nylon
plastic denture resin materials (three polyamides, two denture base polymer to auto-polymerizing resin used
polycarbonates and a polyethylene terephthalate) after for repairing and adjustment of nylon dentures. Nylon is
being soaked in coffee and curry solutions for 60 hours. a chemical-resistant material due to its high crystalline
In that study, three polyamides (Valplast, Lucitone FRS characteristics. [39] This property is opposite to PMMA
and Flexite) had considerable color change in the curry denture base materials. Vojdani et al. showed that bond
solution and Valplast and Flexite showed considerable strength of repair materials increased significantly after
color change after soaking in the coffee solution. chemical treatments of denture base materials. [40]
Sepúlveda-Navarro et al. in 2011 [31] compared the However for nylon polymer, it is hard to react with the
color stability of two heat-cured denture base acrylic chemical etchant and primers of auto-polymerizing re-
resins (Lucitone 550, VipiCril) with the thermoplastic pair resins. Therefore, enriched bonding could not be
nylon resin (Transflex) in different beverages (coffee, achieved when nylon material is treated by polishing,
Cola, red wine, and distilled water) by using an ultravio- alumina sandblasting and resin primer.
let-visible spectrophotometer. The most severe staining In another study in 2013, [41] it was demonstrated

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Vojdani M. and Giti R. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Sci., 2015 March; 16(1 Suppl): 1-9.

that tribochemical silica coating and 4-META/MMA- its dimensional change could be affected by water sorp-
TBB resin could cause the greatest post-thermocycling tion when considering nylon as a hydrophilic material.
bond strength to polyamides (Valplast, Lucitone FRS) [44-45]
among the different surface treatment methods used in Surface roughness
this study (air abrasion with alumina, dichloromethane, A rougher surface can cause discomfort to patients and
ethyl acetate, 4-META/MMA-TBB resin, alumina and also discoloration of the prosthesis; it may contribute to
4-META/MMA-TBB resin, tribochemical silica coat- microbial colonization and biofilm formation.
ing, and finally tribochemical silica coating and 4- Abuzar et al. in 2010 [46] evaluated the surface
META/MMA-TBB resin). roughness of a polyamide denture base material (Flexi-
Polyamide was exceedingly difficult to bond to an plast) in comparison with PMMA (Vertex RS), and
auto-polymerizing repair resin; also the shear bond found that polyamide specimens produced a rougher
strength could improve using tribochemical silica coat- surface than PMMA, both before and after the polishing
ing followed by application of 4-META/MMA-TBB process. The unpolished polyamide surface might have
resin. Korkmaz et al. in 2013 [42] used peel test to eval- been affected by some degrees of disintegration of the
uate the bond strength of a silicon-based soft denture mold surface which was heated to a higher temperature
liner (Molloplast B) to PMMA and polyamide after compared to PMMA, and also the pressure during injec-
laser application or air abrasion of denture resins. They tion molding. [18] Similar to polymethacrylate resin
showed that in the Deflex group (polyamide), the high- materials, [47] the conventional polishing technique
est peel bond strength was observed when it was treated provided a polyamide surface smoothness, well within
by Er, Cr: YSGG laser at 2W-20HZ, while the lowest the clinically acceptable standard. The same results
peel bond strength was recorded in the group which was were found in another study done by Kawara et al. in
sandblasted with Al2O3. Therefore air abrasion of poly- 2014 [48] who evaluated the surface roughness of four
amide resins should be avoided in order not to impair thermoplastic (polyamide: Valplast, Lucitone FRS, pol-
their bond strength to silicon-based soft denture liners. yethylene terephthalate: EstheShot, and polyester: Es-
Dimensional accuracy of nylon denture base materials theShot Bright) and two conventional acrylic (Heat-
Despite several advantages of PMMA, one of its main polymerizing: Urban, and Pour type auto-polymerizing:
disadvantages is polymerization shrinkage during pro- Pro-Cast DSP) denture bases by using scratch test. The
cessing. For solving this problem, various injection- results showed that the surface of thermoplastic denture
molded materials and processing techniques are now base resins was easily damaged compared with polyme-
available. [43] The study of Stafford et al. [18] was the thyl methacrylate.
first attempt to study the dimensional accuracy of nylon Effect of denture cleansers on polyamide denture base materials
denture-base materials. Parvizi et al. in 2004 [44] com- Adhesion of microorganisms, especially yeasts, to the
pared the dimensional accuracy of an injection-molded denture base materials is an important issue that com-
nylon denture base material with one conventionally promises its service and efficacy. [49] Although too
processed PMMA, one injection-molded PMMA, and many researches have been conducted to control the
an injection-molded styrene. They found that all of the development of pathogenic biofilm on PMMA materi-
materials exhibited some degree of shrinkage as a result als; [50-52] the studies concerning the effect of disin-
of processing, but this shrinkage was highest for nylon fecting methods on polyamides are very limited. In
with 2.5% in the cross arch dimension, which was 2.8 2011, [53] a study was conducted on the effect of den-
times greater than the conventionally processed PMMA. ture cleansers on the formation of Candida biofilms on a
The smallest mean shrinkage was associated with sty- polyamide resin (Flexite M.P) and a polymethyl meth-
rene and the largest with nylon. The dimensional change acrylate resin (Acron MC). The study showed that Can-
of nylon was clinically significant, and could have an dida biofilms had significantly higher growth on poly-
effect on the final fit of the denture. The lower dimen- amide compared with PMMA indicating that polyamide
sional accuracy of nylon was shown to be related to its could present a convenient surface for microbial coloni-
technique sensitivity during the processing stages. Also zation. These differences would be attributed to the

5
Polyamide as a Denture Base Material: A Literature Review Vojdani M. and Giti R.

higher amount of residual monomers in PMMA which and surface roughness were highly associated in Pala-
produced differences in the resin surface-charge, being don 65 and could be used for the prediction of each oth-
capable of reducing adhesion and inhibiting the growth er. [55]
of Candida. The results also showed that the denture Cytotoxic evaluation of polyamide
cleanser solutions, with or without enzymes, were effec- There are several studies in regard to cytotoxicity of
tive in controlling candida albicans biofilm levels in denture base materials. [56-59] It has been reported that
both polyamide and PMMA resins. In a study per- the acrylic resins used for the fabrication of denture
formed by Durkan et al. in 2013, [54] the effects of bases have displayed various degrees of in vitro cyto-
three sodium perborate-containing denture cleansers toxicity and in vivo allergic responses, which have been
(CO-Corega, PR-Protefix, VA-Valclean) were evaluat- probably caused by non-reacting components that re-
ed on the surface roughness, hardness, and color stabil- main after the polymerization process. [60] Neverthe-
ity of two polyamides (Valplast and Deflex), a butadien less, studies about cytotoxic effect of polyamides are
styrene copolymer PMMA (Rodex), and a PMMA pol- very limited. Uzun et al. [61] investigated the long-term
ymer as a control group (Paladent). Surface roughness cytotoxic response of an injection-molded polyamide
of the polyamide increased after 20 days of repeated (Deflex) and heat- and cold-cured PMMA resins. Ac-
immersion regardless of the type of the solution used. cording to the results of their study, all materials had a
Valplast had a higher initial surface roughness which similar toxic effect in the short term and all tested mate-
increased after the immersion. Polyamide resins demon- rials reached the highest levels of toxicity after 8 weeks
strated low Vickers hardness before and after immersion of their aging time. In their study, polyamide specimens
in the denture cleansers. Hardness of the polyamide had a comparable toxicity profile with the conventional
resins and PMMA resin decreased after repeated im- PMMA denture base materials.
mersions, regardless of the solution type. This study
also showed that no changes occurred in the color of Case reports
polyamides in these solutions that could be related to the In 2013, [62] a clinical report described a combination
short duration of immersion (20 days). Another study in of a nylon partial removable prosthesis and a traditional
2014 evaluated the effects of two denture cleansing partial removable dental prosthesis for a Kennedy class
methods [Val-Clean (peroxide cleanser) and Corega II, modification 1, partially edentulous mandible. After
Extradent (peroxide cleanser) plus microwaving] on 3- two years, this combination was functioning well, alt-
D surface roughness, gloss and color of nylon hough the nylon material surface showed some discol-
(Valplast), and heat-polymerized acrylic denture base oration.
material (Paladon 65) for a period simulating 30 days of Sinch et al. in 2013 [63] reported a case of maxil-
daily cleansing, by using an interferometric profilome- lary and mandibular arch reconstruction with a nylon
ter, a gloss meter, and a colorimeter. The results of this denture base material due to the aesthetic concerns of
study showed that cleansing methods had no different the patient. They concluded that flexible partial dentures
effect on color group compared with the control group, (FPD) could be a good option for replacement of miss-
when using the same material. However, the effect on ing teeth when the patient is concerned about aesthetics.
Valplast was higher than Paladon 65, both at a clinically FPD had given an option of thinking beyond complex
perceptible level. The Val-Clean method was the only designing of cast partial dentures. They could be con-
method that had no particular influence on the gloss of sidered for treating any patients who need replacement
both tested materials. Corega Extradent plus micro- of missing teeth with aesthetic concerns; however,
waves significantly decreased the gloss of both materi- proper care of the prosthesis must be taken in order to
als. Surface roughness was affected significantly only minimize the staining of the prosthesis, which otherwise
by Corega Extradent plus microwaves and only for the affects the aesthetics of the prosthesis.
Paladon 65 material. The color change (as an effect of
cleansing agent) was not associated with gloss or sur- Conclusion
face roughness in any of the materials. However, gloss Physical and clinical properties of polyamides were

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Vojdani M. and Giti R. J Dent Shiraz Univ Med Sci., 2015 March; 16(1 Suppl): 1-9.

briefly discussed in this review article. Although the [7] John J, Gangadhar SA, Shah I. Flexural strength of
flexural strength and modulus of elasticity and rigidity heat-polymerized polymethyl methacrylate denture res-
of nylon (polyamide) denture base materials are rela- in rein-forced with glass, aramid, or nylon fibers. J
tively low, they demonstrate great impact strength, Prosthet Dent 2001; 86: 424-427.
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that by adding glass fibers to polyamides, their stiffness forced Denture Base Resin with Metal Wire and E-
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retention. However, these materials show some degree num oxide addition on the flexural strength, surface
of color instability in different beverages. The bond hardness, and roughness of heat-polymerized acrylic
strength of these materials to the repairing resins is low, resin. Journal of Dental Sciences. 2012; 7: 238-244.
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with Rocatec system. Using the denture cleansers would ture base material. Br Dent J 1955; 98: 238–244.
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Conflict of Interest [14] Machi H, Hayashi K, Yokoyama N, Uchida T, Ono T,
None to declare. Nokubi T. Physical properties of polyamide resin (ny-
lon group) as a polymeric material for dentures: Part 3.
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