Sterilization effects of commercial denture cleaners compared with a combination of denture cleaners and ultrasonic cleaning

Abstract

We evaluated the sterilization efficacy of a commercial denture cleaner compared with the combined use of the denture cleaner and ultrasonic cleaning on dentures used by patients. After cleaning the dentures with a denture brush, bacteria were collected from one half of the mucosal surface with a sterile cotton swab. Complete and partial dentures were cleaned by immersion in a dedicated commercial denture cleaning solution for 30 min. We also examined the effect of 5 min of cleaning with a commercial ultrasonic cleaner and a denture cleaner after mechanical cleaning. The dentures with a viable bacteria count greater than 4.54×109 CFU/mL before rinsing at 40°C showed a high sterilization rate greater than 95%. The sterilization rate of dentures with a low bacterial count before immersion was low. Similar results were obtained for anaerobic bacteria. Regarding the ultrasonic cleaner, debris was visually removed from all 30 dentures. These results suggest that it is important to evaluate denture cleansers to the extent that they can reduce bacterial counts rather than sterilization rates. (J Osaka Dent Univ 2020; 54: 225-238)