Effect of adding different amounts of tea tree oil to acrylic resin materials on candida albicans inhibition and surface roughness of materials

Adhesion and colonization of Candida albicans (C. albicans) to acrylic base materials; it is the most important factor in the development of prosthetic stomatitis. The aim of this study is; to investigate the inhibition of tea tree oil added to acrylic base resins in different proportions against C. albicans, which is effective in prosthetic stomatitis, and the effect of surface roughness on acrylic bases. To prepare microbiological test samples, tea tree oil was mixed in different proportions (0%, 10%, 20% and 40%) into 3 different acrylic resin materials (Meliodent, Diamond D, Meliodent rapid repair). Samples were sterilized with ultraviolet and kept in artificial saliva for 24 hours, then transferred to sabaroud broth medium containing C. albicans. At the 24th and 48th hours of the incubation, the optical density of C. albicans was measured with a spectrophotometer. The mixture in the test tube was spread over the petri dish with sabaruod dextrose agar after serial dilution and the colony count was made 48 hours later. For the surface roughness test, different proportions of tea tree oil (0%, 10%, 20% and 40%) were mixed into 3 different acrylic resin materials. Surface roughness amounts were measured with a profilometer test device. SPSS 17.0 for Windows was used for statistical analysis. The compliance of the data to the distribution of normality was evaluated using the Shapiro Wilk test. Two-way ANOVA, Bonferroni correction and paired sample t-tests were performed to evaluate spectrophotometer measurements, colony numbers and surface roughness. p <0,05 level was considered significant in all analyzes. The type of acrylic resin materials used in our study and the ratio of mixed tea tree oil created a statistically significant difference on the optical density, colony numbers and surface roughness of C. albicans (p <0,01). As the proportion of tea tree oil increased (0%, 10%, 20% and 40%), C. albicans density, colony number of acrylic resins decreased and the roughness values are increased (p> 0,05). The lowest and colony numbers of C. albicans are seen in polymerized meliodent acrylic material containing 40% tea tree oil. (p> 0,05). The surface roughness values of the autopolymerized meliodent acrylic material were found to be the highest in all proportions of tea tree oil (p <0,01). Keywords: Acrylic resin, Candida albicans, Tea tree oil, Surface roughness