Assessment of Denture Cleanliness among Complete Denture Wearer in Chitwan

Introduction: Oral cleanliness is important for all to maintain the overall health status. It is also important for the old aged edentulous people with dentures. The complete dentures are custom made device which are the replacement for the missing all tooth of mouth. Many microorganisms adhere to the surfaces of dentures and form denture plaque and calculus. They are there due to inadequate denture hygiene maintenance. This study was performed with the aim of assessing cleanliness of complete dentures among the denture wearers.Methods :A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 140 complete denture in the Department of Prosthodontics and Maxillofacial Prosthetics at Chitwan Medical College and Hospital. A convenience sampling method was used in this study. After taking the sociodemographic information and other information related to dentures, the participants dentures were evaluated with disclosing agent. The stained dentures were then assessed according to the Denture Cleanliness Index. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistical tools in SPSS-16 and results were presented in form of tables.Results: The mean age of 140 patients was 71.39±5.80 years. There were 81 (57.9%) females and 59 (42.1) males. About 27 (19.3%) denture wearers did not remove dentures from their mouth at night. Among total, 81 (57.9%) of participants brushed their dentures with water. Denture Cleanliness Index scores of 2 was observed in 64 (45.8%) of denture wearers. Conclusions: It can be concluded that majority of participants had uncleaned dentures suggesting the need ofproper denture hygiene instructions and routinely follow-up for the cleanliness of dentures and their overall intraoral health status whether or not there were denture stomatitis.