Influence of posterior palatal seal in the adaptation of complete denture bases

Abstract

This work evaluated the influence of posterior palatal seal in the adaptation of complete denture bases. For that, 20 plaster models were made in equal dimensions and divided in 2 groups, according to the following characteristics: Group A - posterior palatal surface without depressions. Group B - presented a depression in the posterior palatal region (form of M) with approximately 1mm of depth, 35 mm of length (between the maxillary tuberosities) and 3 mm of thickness, so that the line between the hard and soft palate was the posterior limit. An acetate base, with 1.5 mm of thickness, was plasticized on the models in a vacuum plasticizer. The samples were enclosed in metallic flasks; heat-cured acrylic resin was manipulated and processed in water bath (74ºC during 9 hours). After that, each plaster model and respective resin base were fixed with instantaneous adhesive and transversally sectioned at the posterior palatal region. The adaptation level was measured on an Olympus linear comparator microscope (Japan). The data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey’s test (5% significance). There was no significant statistical difference for the average of adaptation between group A (0.075 mm) and group B (0.071 mm). It could be concluded that posterior palatal seal did not influence in the adaptation of the complete denture bases analyzed.