The Effect of Disinfectants on the Properties of Commercially Available Alginate Impression Material

Alginate is the widely used primary impression material exhibit dimensional change during disinfection procedures.
Thus this study was aimed to eliminate the disinfection immersion or spraying procedure in the manipulation of
alginate impression materials by mixing the powder with disinfectant liquids. Four commercially available alginates
were considered for the present study and these were manipulated with three different types of disinfectant
solution for the preparation of test groups. Deionised water was employed for manipulation of four selected
alginate powders to prepare control group. The properties such as gelation time, flow, dimensional stability and
surface quality were measured using the standardized techniques and also by following manufacturers powder
liquid ratio. Excellent flow characteristics, surface quality and dimensional stability were observed with Povidone-
Iodine, but gelation time was slightly higher (6 + 0.437 minutes) than that of the groups studied. Povidone-Iodine
is suitable for mixing with four different types of alginate powder studied and can eliminate the disinfection
procedure.