Antifungal Efficacy of Sodium Perborate and Microwave Irradiation for Surface Disinfection of Polymethyl Methacrylate Polymer

Various disinfecting agents showing variable success in disinfecting polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are available. The aim of our study was to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of sodium perborate (denture cleaning tablet-DC), microwave irradiation, and their combination for eradicating candida albicans (C. albicans) from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base polymer. One hundred and sixty-eight PMMA resin specimens (30 × 30 × 15 mm) were divided into four groups, including control (no disinfection), microwave disinfection in distilled water (MW-DW), sodium perborate with distilled water (DC-DW), and a combination of MW-DC-DW (n = 10). Biofilms of C. albicans were cultured on the PMMA resin denture base specimens for 96 h. The samples were exposed to three different antifungal regimes, i.e., MW, denture cleaning agent-sodium perborate (DC) and DW, and a combination of MW-DC-DW for 1 to 5 min. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed to evaluate colony formation. The colony-forming units (CFU) among the experimental groups were assessed using ANOVA, a Kruskal–Wallis test, and a Mann–Whitney test. The mean CFU values were compared with the control for each disinfecting regime at 96 h growth time. For MW-DC-DW, the CFU were significantly low at 2 and 3 min of exposure when compared with the control (DW) (p < 0.05). For the MW-DW treated group, the CFU were significantly low at 3 min of exposure when compared with the control (DW) (p < 0.05). It was also found that for DC-DW, the CFU were significantly low at 5 minutes when compared with the control specimens (DW) (p < 0.05). Microwave disinfection in combination with sodium perborate is a more effective disinfecting regime against C. albicans than that of microwave disinfection and sodium perborate alone.