Methods of cleaning removable dentures

Abstract

Most older patients use removable dentures, and the need for these dentures increases every year. Improving oral hygiene and denture hygiene is required in 42% to 76% of cases. Maintaining good oral hygiene is the prevention of various dental diseases and the long-term preservation of dental treatment results. The review aimed to examine the status of the issue on methods of disinfection of removable dentures (partial and complete) at home. A literature search was conducted on methods of disinfection of complete and partial removable dentures using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, eLibrary, and disserCat. Search criteria: review articles, scientific articles and patents (in Russian or English), published no earlier than 2013, by keywords: removable dentures, oral microbiota of patients with removable dentures, hygiene of removable dentures, denture stomatitis and methods of hygienic treatment of dentures. A total of 218 articles were studied. After a full-text analysis, 30 papers that met the search criteria were selected. The use of toothpaste for cleaning dentures has been studied in 17% of scientific studies (n=5). The use of special disinfectant solutions was investigated in 53% (n=16). Approximately 20% (n=6) of the literature reviewed methods for disinfecting dentures using special devices. Methods of covering dentures with protective varnish were described in 10% (n=3) of the articles. Existing methods for home denture care show a wide range of effectiveness, often with contradictory data. The selection of adequate methods of denture hygiene at home is an important issue that requires further study.