The neutral electrolyzed water (NW) has superior characteristics for dental disinfectant such as high bactericidal effect with least irritation to soft tissues, least corrosiveness to hard tissues and metals and long storage stability. The present study examined the effectiveness of NW on the improvement in oral environment in terms of disinfection of denture and reduction of oral malodor for aged denture wearers with dementia living in long-term care health facilities. Only 2-min ultrasonic cleaning in NW could remove 66.1±27.6% of the amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is an indicator of contamination by the microorganisms, from the surface of dentures. More than 95% of removal was attained by further brushing followed by one or two times additional ultrasonic cleaning of the denture in NW. The oral malodor tested by simple organoleptic test was reduced to the level of no or little odor by 30-sec mouth washing with NW after disinfection of denture. The foregoing results indicate the usefulness of NW for improvement and maintenance of the oral environment.

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