The dental and periodontal health status of HD patients is comparable with healthy controls, but becomes worse with time on dialysis. Thus, oral health maintenance is of utmost importance in this patient group.

Chronic renal failure patients on PD treatment are more susceptible to periodontal diseases like HD patients. Thus, it is very important to maintain an optimal oral hygiene level. Further studies on periodontal parameters of only PD patients are needed to get more information on the oral health status of this patient group.

This study compared the influence of different polymerization methods (heat, auto-, and microwave energy), different curing processes (in the case of heat- and autopolymerized specimens), and length of storage of the polymerized specimens in distilled water at 37 degrees C on the residual methyl methacrylate (MMA) content in dental acrylic resin specimens. Residual MMA of 120 resin specimens were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. For the heat-polymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were given a long-term terminal boil and then stored in the distilled water for at least 1 day. For the autopolymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were additionally cured in water at 60 degrees C and then stored in the distilled water at least 1 day. For the microwave-polymerized resins, the lowest residual MMA content was obtained when they were stored in the distilled water at least 1 month. The lowest overall residual MMA content was obtained from heat-polymerized specimens that were given a long-term terminal boil cure and then stored in the distilled water at least 1 day. Different polymerization methods and curing processes have different effects on residual MMA content. It is thus shown that storing a dental acrylic resin specimen in distilled water at 37 degrees C is a simple but effective method of reducing its residual MMA content.

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