Disinfecting Your Denture

As a dentist in Royersford for over 25 years and as a dentist at a local geriatric facility I am often asked the best way to clean dentures. I feel the best way to clean debris off the denture is to scrub them with a brush under warm to hot water. Denuture tablets will not clean soft food off the dentures, only vigorous scrubbing will clean the food off. But there is more to dirty dentures than meets the eye, dentures harbor bacteria that can cause infections and illnesses. What is the best way to disinfect your dentures? Research has shown that cleaning dentures with over the counter denture cleaning tablets may make the dentures look clean but they are not effectively sanitized. Dentures will remain contaminated with germs and this can lead to risk of increased infections in the mouth, which can cause sores, bleeding, swelling, and burning. Respiratory infections can also be harbored on the dentures causing a recurrence of illnesses, which can be a major problem in nursing homes and hospitals.

A study published recently in an issue of "General Dentistry" compared using denture cleaner (such as Polident) alone as directed or in combination with a two minute trip to the microwave, compared to the microwave without cleaner, and no cleaning at all.

The study indicated that only the microwave method was effective in cleaning the denture in a single cleaning, none of the other methods was capable of cleaning the dentures even after 3 attempts. The study also showed that multiple cleanings using the microwave did not harm to the denture as long as the dentures did not contain metal.

How to Clean your Denture:

1.Place dentures with no metal in microwave container twice as tall as the denture with vents in the lid
2. Fill container with water
3. Place one denture cleaning tablet in container
4. Cover container with towel in order to clean up excess water
5. Microwave for two minutes on standard power setting.
6. Let dentures cool and then rinse with water.