Antonio de Jesús Enríquez Esqueda, María Teresa Zermeño Loredo, Juan Manuel Guizar Mendoza and Luis Antonio Fandiño Torres
Introduction: Materials for temporary fixed prostheses offer different physical properties in terms of hardness, susceptibility to pigmentation and exothermic reaction during their polymerization. Objective: To conduct an in vitro comparison of the properties of five acrylic resins for the preparation of fixed provisional prostheses. Methods: In this study was prepared 30 samples of three different acrylics and five different brands (bis-acryl, auto-cured polymethyl methacrylate and heat-cured polymethyl methacrylate - PMMA), which were tested for exothermic reaction during polymerization, susceptibility to pigmentation and Rockwell hardness. Results: PMMA had a greater exothermic reaction (p<0.0001); bis-acryl showed an increased susceptibility to pigmentation (p<0.0001) and heat-cured acrylic was the material with greater resistance (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Auto-cured acrylics are suggested for short periods and non-vital teeth treatments. Heat-cured acrylics are indicated for long-term treatments in long gaps and bis-acryl is indicated for short-term treatments.