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Evidence summaries

Interventions for Cleaning Dentures

Chemicals and brushing may be more effective than placebo in the reduction of plaque coverage and microbial counts on complete denture bases. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of different methods for cleansing removable dentures included 6 studies with a total of 192 subjects. The interventions included e.g. different enzyme soaking solutions, other chemical cleansers, detergents and effervescent preparations as well as brushing with specific pastes. The wide range of different interventions and outcome variables did not permit pooling of data in a meta-analysis. Isolated reports indicated that chemicals and brushing appear to be more effective than placebo in the reduction of plaque coverage and microbial counts of anaerobes and aerobes on complete denture bases.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison) and by inconsistency (heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes).

References

  • de Souza RF, de Freitas Oliveira Paranhos H, Lovato da Silva CH, Abu-Naba'a L, Fedorowicz Z, Gurgan CA. Interventions for cleaning dentures in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009;(4):CD007395. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords