Background:
Acrylic material is most commonly used to make plates for removable prostheses. The daily use of prosthetic restorations should involve special care of their hygiene. Not adhering to denture cleanliness routine can result in adverse effects not only related to both oral health and systemic diseases, but can also lead to deterioration of denture aesthetics. One way of maintaining hygiene of removable dental restorations is to place them in a cleaning solution. In addition, it is important to follow the recommendations of one’s dentist and the manufacturer of the cleaning agent so that inappropriate practices do not contribute to shortening the duration of use of the restoration.

Aim:
Aim of the study. To evaluate physico-chemical properties of an acrylic material in relation to incubation time in a solution of water and a tablet cleaning agent.

Material and methods:
Vertex Rapid Simplified acrylic material was used in this study to make 104 specimens. Each part of the study had a specific number of samples divided into four groups (one control and three study groups). Protefix Hygiene Active Cleaning Tablets were used to prepare the water solutions. The incubation times of the samples in the solutions were 2, 3, and 6 days, which, when converted, simulated 2, 3, and 5 years of cleaning. After the incubation time, acrylic hardness, impact and flexural strength, sorption and solubility tests were conducted.

Results:
After three days (simulated three years) of incubation in an aqueous detergent solution the tested material showed the lowest hardness value. A series of control samples not incubated in aqueous solution obtained the highest average hardness value. The hardness values obtained after two and six days of incubation were lower than those of the control group, but higher than those of the test group after three days of incubation.

Conclusions:
Protefix Hygiene Active Cleaning Tablets have little effect on the properties of the acrylic material tested, but with prolonged use it can adversely affect its hardness and flexural strength.