dentures adhesive questions and answers.dentures adhesive questions and answers.

Mr Ahmed zaki the reporter of our city medical journal interviewed me today about dentures adhesive, and here is the interview.

Hello doc many patients asking about prosthetic adhesives so i will ask you some common questions that we receive regularly from our readers.

You are welcome Mr Ahmed you know that i always like to speak about dentistry.

The most common question that almost every denture wearer ask, do all the complete dentures need the aid of the adhesive?

First of all we should know that generally dentures don’t need adhesives. The vast majority of complete dentures are usually retentive and functional without any help.

So what are the cases that need the dentures adhesive aid?

1- Bad toothless ridge: Edentulous or toothless ridge is the elevated ridge that remains after teeth extraction. This ridge is extremely important in denture retention as it is the main structure that supports and retain the denture in place.

In some cases this ridge is very flat, thin or irregular which can make the denture not to be retentive enough to be used with trust.

2-Deficient or very thick saliva: Some patients suffer from diminished salivary secretion due to systemic diseases like diabetes or the consumption of some drugs that can cause xerostomia or what we call dry mouth. Saliva surface tension acts as a normal adhesive so any defect in the volume or the consistency of saliva will affect denture stability.

3-New denture wearers: Some patients may need extra trust in their first days with dentures. Also the muscles will need a week or two to be trained to stabilize the denture. so it will be useful to use it in the first days till we solve this trust problem.

There are many forms available in the markets, How can we choose between them?

We have to say that you should ask your dentist about the forms that can be good for your case then give them a try untill you find out what can give you the best results. But i will give my personal opinion about some of these forms.

1-Powder type:  very easy to apply, easy to clean don’t interfere with denture occlusion but not retentive enough when firm fixation is needed.

2-Glow or paste type: Best retention but a little hard to be cleaned and also interfere with denture occlusion which can be annoying to some patients.

Last thing doctor what is the contra indications for using denture adhesive?

1- sensitivity to any of the components of the material.

2- Bad, ill fitted or rocking denture: In this cases using the adhesive will lead to more bone shrinkage which will make the fixation of the bad denture impossible.

3-Denture that was good for (1-5 years) then the denture becomes loose, rocking and fall during eating or drinking. As the human bone usually shrink in response to mastication force so the denture needs to be relined at your dentist’s clinic and the prolonged use of the glow at this cases will make the relining impossible.