Antimicrobial Evaluation of Denture Cleanser System and Regular Family Toothpastes

Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial effectiveness of a Polident® denture cleanser compared to two family toothpastes when prepared and used under typical in-use conditions against organisms associated with oral malodor and a prominent fungal organism implicated as a possible causative agent for stomatitis. The measurement of antimicrobial efficacy against relevant organisms can provide insight into the most suitable regime to effectively and safely clean the denture. Methods: For tablets, a test organism suspension was inoculated into flask of 150 ml of 375 ppm hard water held at 400C. One cleanser tablet was added to this solution and after a 5 minute contact time surviving organisms were calculated. For toothpaste samples, one part toothpaste was added to two parts suspending solution and homogenized to create a test toothpaste slurry. The test toothpaste slurry was inoculated with test organism suspension and after a 2 minute contact time surviving organisms were calculated. Results: The denture cleanser tablets exhibited log reductions in excess of 5.00 log 10 after the 5 minute contact time for K. pneumoniae, V. atypica, and F. nucleatum. The toothpaste samples produced similar efficacy results for V. atypica and F. nucleatum but failed to show any efficacy against K. pneumoniae with a log 10 reductions under 0.10 log 10. The C. albicans results for the cleanser tablets were all in excess of 4.00 log 10 while toothpaste samples only achieved 1.54 and 2.28 log 10 reductions. Conclusion: The TAED based denture cleanser tablets were all more effective, on average, at killing the test odor causing organisms and exhibited higher antifungal efficacy against C. albicans. Overall, the results indicated that a TAED based denture cleanser appears to be a more effective denture hygiene treatment option than toothpaste when evaluated against organisms relevant to a denture wearer.