Hygiene habits of complete denture wearers in geriatric patients

Objective: To assess the denture hygiene habits in geriatric patients visiting the Prosthodontic department at Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry, Karachi. Study Design: A Cross Sectional Survey Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Prosthodontics at Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry, Karachi from March 2015 to November 2015. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted in 350 complete denture wearers patients aged >65 years reported to Prosthodontics department of Liaquat College of Medicine & Dentistry. The questionnaire evaluates the time elapsed since the current complete dentures are being used in both jaws, whether the patient has been made aware of the instructions on how to clean and care for their dentures, what additional substances and dentrifices to use to aid cleaning, and whether the patients clean their oral mucosal surfaces as well or not. Statistical analysis of all the data collected were performed using SPSS version 21. Results: In this study, 156 (45.8%) of the participants reported that their dentists had never been told how to clean their dentures. Nearly half of the study population 188 (55.1%) scrub the teeth with water. For the frequency of denture cleaning, two-thirds 255 (74.8%) of the researchers cleaned the denture at least once a day. This study showed that 102 (29.9%) participants usually sleep with dentures. Conclusion: As a pre-requisite to denture wearing, care and oral hygiene should be informed and repeated to the patient throughout the course of treatment and then should be checked for patient compliance with regular followups in the ensuing years.