Methods: Patients were selected from the denture wearers who referred to our clinic for fabrication of new dentures. The survey was made of 234 denture wearing patients (189 fully edentulous, 45 partially edentulous). A questionnaire was used to identify the types and frequency of use of denture cleaning methods of the patients. At the same time a visual examination was performed to determine the cleanliness of the dentures when removed from the mouth. Cleanliness of dentures was organized in three categories: clean, dirty and extremely dirty, based on the level of debris and stain. Oral mucosa was also examined from the stomatitis point of view.
Results: Most preferred regimen was identified as brushing with toothpaste that was employed by 40.59% of the patients, while the least used method was soaking in mouthwash that was used by only one patient. 38.9% of the patients were not satisfied with their cleansing methods. 82.9% of the denture wearers were not informed by their dentists as to how to clean their dentures. According to the examination of dentures, only 11.9% of them were properly clean. 3 out of 234 dentures (1.28%) were more than 30 years old.They tended to be dirtier than the newer ones (p<0.0001) and had a higher incidence rate of denture stomatitis (p< 0.0001).
Conclusion: In Turkish population, the most of the denture wearers can not clean their dentures satisfactorily. The main cause for this was identified to be the negligence on the part of the dentists informing their patients about denture cleaning as well as failure of the patients to come to periodic recalls.