Wearing Dentures - Increasing Risk to Your Health?

Evaluating Risk Factors: Wearing Dentures

Evaluating your likely current (and near future) state of health means taking into account the risk factors — such as denture wearing — that affect you. Our medical diagnosis tool, The Analyst™, identifies major risk factors by asking the right questions.

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If you indicate missing adult teeth, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:

Do you wear dentures, either partial or full? If yes, select the answer that most accurately reflects your habits regarding cleaning and sleeping with dentures.

Possible responses:

→ No / very rarely / don't know
→ Yes, carefully cleaned, not worn while sleeping
→ Yes, carefully cleaned, worn while sleeping
→ Yes, not so clean, not worn while sleeping
→ Yes, not so clean, worn while sleeping

The Diagnostic Process

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate wearing clean dentures while awake, wearing clean dentures all day, wearing dirty dentures while awake or wearing dirty dentures all day, The Analyst™ will use differential diagnosis to consider possibilities such as:

Bad Breath (Halitosis)

Dentures tend to collect particles of food and form bacterial plaque and tartar deposits, which are ideal places for bacteria, fungi and viruses to hide. These in turn can cause mouth infections, gum disease, decay of any remaining teeth, and bad breath.

Periodontal Disease - Gingivitis

Pneumonia

October, 2014: A three-year study of 524 adults over the age of 85 and published in the Journal of Dental Research has found that patients who wear dentures during sleep are at 2.3 times higher risk for developing pneumonia than those who remove them. The researchers also found that overnight denture wearing increased levels of tongue and denture plaque, gum inflammation, a positive culture for Candida albicans, and bad breath.

Dentures are covered in thin layers of bacteria known as biofilms, which can then be breathed into the lungs. Two good methods of disinfecting dentures are to put them in a microwave for three minutes (unless they contain metal), or soak them in a solution of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate, a germicidal mouthwash, for 10 minutes.

TMJ Problems

Improper denture support and function can upset the jaw mechanism if the teeth are not being properly aligned with the chewing muscles. This can, in serious cases, lead to a TMJ disorder.

Yeast / Candida Infection

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™