Abstract
Background: Facial disfigurement can be the result of a congenital anomaly, trauma or tumor surgery, in many cases the prosthetic rehabilitation is indicated. Maxillofacial prosthetic materials should have desirable and ideal physical, aesthetic, and biological properties and those properties should be kept for long period of time in order to reach patient acceptance. Silicone elastomer are the most commonly used material for facial restoration because of its favorable properties mechanically and physically as the biocompatibility and good elasticity. Aim of this study: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of addition of Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) Nano fillers in different concentrations on tear strength and hardness of VST 50F room temperature vulcanized maxillofacial silicone. Methods: The Nano Al2O3 was added in a concentrations of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 by weight to the VST 50F RTV maxillofacial silicone, the samples were tested for tear strength (ISO 34 -1) and shore A hardness (ISO 7619), the FTIR was used to analyze the interaction of the Nano Al2O3 with the silicone. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. One-way ANOVA test was used to test the changing significance. Results: There was no interaction between the Nano-Al2O3 and the silicone in the FTIR. The results showed highly significant increase in tear strength and shore A hardness for the 1 and 1.5 concentration groups when Compared to control group. Conclusion: The reinforcement of VST 50F maxillofacial silicone with 1 and 1.5 concentrations of Nano Al2O3 improved some of the mechanical properties of the room temperature vulcanized silicone.