Antimicrobial effectiveness of denture cleaning protocols for hospitalized patients: randomized clinical trial

All the hygiene protocols tested resulted in a significant reduction in the percentage of biofilm on the upper complete denture and in the viable microorganisms from their cultures (P less than 0.05). The comparison between protocols showed a greater reduction in the medians of log10 colony forming units per milliliter and in the percentage of prosthetic biofilm for the groups that used sodium hypochlorite, 2% chlorhexidine digluconate and microwave irradiation (650 W) regardless of the association with brushing (P less than 0.05). The factors involved with prosthetic biofilm, including diagnostic hypotheses, did not significantly interfere with the effectiveness of the protocols proposed in this study (P less than 0.05). It was concluded that a simple immersion of the removable acrylic dentures in the chemical cleaning solutions of 1% sodium hypochlorite and 2% chlorhexidine digluconate for 10 min can be a simple and low cost alternative for the effective reduction of prosthetic biofilm in hospitalized patients.