RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Routine disinfection procedures have shown to cause incomplete disinfection and detrimental effects on dimensional properties of the impression. Hence, self-disinfecting impression materials impregnated with antimicrobial agents were developed. PURPOSE: The purpose is to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) impregnated in irreversible hydrocolloid (IH) impression material in in vivo conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study comprised of four groups-IH impressions disinfected by immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde, IH impregnated with AgNPs of sizes 80-100 nm and 20-30 nm, nondisinfected impressions as control. Five impressions were made for each group and a total of 20 impression samples were made. The antimicrobial action of each sample was assessed by counting the number of colony forming units and by disc diffusion method. RESULTS: The results were obtained and the data were statistically analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test and tabulated. The results revealed that AgNPs of size 80-100 nm when impregnated in irreversible impression material showed effective antimicrobial action. CONCLUSION: The anti-microbial action of 80-100 nm AgNP impregnated IH impressions is comparable to that of impressions disinfected by immersion in 2% glutaraldehyde for 10 min.
