Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cycling deflection on the flexural behavior of injection-molded thermoplastic resins.

Materials and methods: Six injection-molded thermoplastic resins (two polyamides, two polyesters, one polycarbonate, one polymethyl methacrylate) and, as a control, a conventional heat-polymerized denture based polymer of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were used in this study. The cyclic constant magnitude (1.0 mm) of 5000 cycles was applied using a universal testing machine to demonstrate plasticization of the polymer. Loading was carried out in water at 23ºC with eight specimens per group (n = 8). Cycling load (N) and deformation (mm) were measured.

Results: Force required to deflect the specimens during the first loading cycle and final loading cycle was statistically significantly different (p < 0.05) with one polyamide based polymer (Valplast) and PMMA based polymers (Acrytone and Acron). The other polyamide based polymer (LucitoneFRS), polyester based polymers (EstheShot and EstheShotBright) and polycarbonate based polymer (ReigningN) did not show significant differences (p > 0.05). None of the materials fractured during the loading test. One polyamide based polymer (Valplast) displayed the highest deformation and PMMA based polymers (Acrytone and Acron) exhibited the second highest deformation among the denture base materials.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that there were considerable differences in the flexural behavior of denture base polymers. This may contribute to the fatigue resistance of the materials.