Evaluation Of Dental Alginates Impression Materials

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare 5 different alginates for dental impressions which we used only for orthodontic ones. Methods: We used 5 alginates (Alginplus Tropical “A”, Alginmax “B”, Alginmajor “C”, Alginkid Orthodontic “D”, Alginplus Fast “E”, Major Dental, Moncalieri-To, Italy, www.majordental.com) for impressions to develop models for orthodontic studies. Fifty patients “special needs kids” took part in our group; there were two operators: one orthodontist was assigned to mixing and the second one was assigned to setting. Each patient had two impressions, for a total of 100 impressions (20 impressions for each alginate). The producer's instruction was to develop impressions at 23°C of atmosphere and defined quantities, which we respected. We decided to use the same temperature for water: 4°C. For each alginate we developed a quality evaluation defined by 9 features: mixing, water absorption, consistency, processing time, curing time, impression elasticity, tear resistance (strongness), impression readability, detail reproduction and a total final evaluation For each feature we considered three degreas of quality: good, medium, poor. Results: The comparison shows no significant clinical differences among our alginates. Mixing: Good. Water absorption: Medium, maybe too rapid. Consistency: Good, favourable for working time. Processing time: Good, favourable for working time. Curing time: Good, the best for alginate “D” (1'50''). Impression elasticity: Medium. Tear resistance (strongness): Medium. Impression readability: Good. Detail reproduction: Medium. Total final evaluation: Good. Conclusion: The differences are not significant to guide us in a specific choice of one of these alginates. The only one important feature is curing time because of kind of our patients: “special needs kids”, who have a poor and very short in time collaboration for invasive dental procedures in comparison with normal people.