Denture Hygiene of the Elderly Denture Wearers in South East Local Government Area in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

It has been observed that patients provided with partial dentures accumulate more plaque on the abutment teeth.  Likewise the fitting surfaces of dentures become coated with plaque. It is the objective of this study to investigate the hygiene condition of dentures worn by some elderly people in South East Local Government Area Ibadan Nigeria.  Two trained  and calibrated examiners examined the oral cavity and dentures of 39 elderly individuals who were 65 years and above , living in South East Local Government area in Ibadan Nigeria. They were examined using a mouth mirror, a blunt probe of diameter 0.5mm and a W.H.O assessment form, modified to include denture hygiene criteria, developed by the authors.  The findings were recorded by two trained recorder clerks. The results highlight the poor hygiene condition of dentures used by some elderly in this local government area.  Thirty two (82.1%) of them had plaque or calculus on their dentures.  Only 17.9% had clean dentures and 38.1% had calculus on their dentures.  Denture stomatitis was observed in 15.4% of denture wearers.  Denture wearers among the elderly individuals in south East Local Government area in Ibadan exhibited inadequate denture hygiene conditions.  In spite of poor denture hygiene which is known to contribute to denture stomatitis, the prevalence of denture stomatitis   was very low in the study group.   The significance of these findings is that other conditions need to be present to facilitate initiation and progress of denture stomatitis.

Keywords: Plaque, denture hygiene, denture stomatitis, periodontal disease, calculus