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Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate yeast carriage in healthy denture wearers by swabbing and to evaluate the effect of denture hygiene habits., Materials and Methods: Denture wearers (n = 87) without evidence of denture stomatitis or any other oral disease were investigated by separately swabbing the fitting surface of the upper denture and the corresponding palatal mucosa in contact with the appliance. In a group of volunteers, a gel without any active compound was spread on the palatal side of the denture once in every morning for 2 weeks., Results: Screening showed Candida colonisation of upper prosthesis in 75.9% of individuals. The most frequent species isolated were Candida albicans (77.9% of the positive cultures), Candida glabrata (44.1%) and Candida tropicalis (19.1%). Carriage of more than one yeast species was found in 48.5% of the contaminated dentures. There was a statistically significant association between denture contamination and palatal mucosa colonisation (chi-squared test: p < 0.0001). Repeated swabbings after 1 week as well as during a weekly follow-up for 1 month confirmed the denture contamination and its degree of severity. A daily gel application produced a yeast-count decrease to 10% of the initial value after 2 weeks (chi-squared test: p = 0.0134 and p = 0.2841 for prosthesis and palatal mucosa, respectively)., Conclusion: This study documented the reliability of oral swabbing when investigating yeast carriage in healthy denture wearers. Moreover, just a diagnostic tool, sampling upper dentures for Candida could be the opportunity to verify the patient's compliance to hygiene advice.

This study describes an in vivo inhibition of dental plaque growth after peroxidase-generated hypoiodite (OI-) mouth-washes. After giving up all other usual hygiene procedures nine healthy volunteers washed their mouth using 10 ml of the mouth-wash [H2O2 (0.005%), KI (50 mM) and lactoperoxidase (0.04%)] three times a day for 1 minute for 3 days. The initial oxidation power of this mixture represented 430 +/- 11 microM oxidised cysteine (n = 6), dropping down to 87 +/- 6 microM after the solution was spat out (n = 5). A saline solution served as a negative control, and a 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate solution as a positive control. Proximal dental plaque between mandibular canine and lateral incisor (left and right) was collected after 3 days using standardized sterile toothpicks, then analysed for ATP and protein content. ATP concentrations dropped to 49% of the control values after OI- rinsing, and to 9% after chlorhexidine rinsing while the protein content dropped to 48% for OI- versus 31% for chlorhexidine. However, when considering the ATP content per protein micrograms, only the decrease to 6% of the initial value in the chlorhexidine testing was significant while the drop to 81% for the OI- testings was not significant. This study points out a negative effect of OI- on plaque growth in vivo.

Tooth brushing is a very simple and effective method for removing daily dental deposits and for preventing dental and periodontal diseases. However, it can cause considerable manipulative difficulties among some populations, e.g., young children, physically handicapped and mentally retarded patients. In order to test and compare the efficiency of a newly designed toothbrush (Superbrush), we have performed a pilot study on patients staying at the "Reine Fabiola Village No. 1", an institution for patients who are followed for mental retardation at different levels. 30 patients were included in the study, aged between 18 to 40 years. Among these 30, five had to be eliminated for their incapacity to follow the initial training in how to brush their teeth. The comparison was made with a normal single headed tooth brush, in a double blind trial, based on bleeding and plaque indexes, performed on 6 different teeth on day 0, 7 and 21. The results of this study indicate that there is no significant difference between the two types of toothbrushes with respect to the ability of plaque removing and gingivitis prevention, during the period of time of this study. However, the easiness of manipulating this newly designed toothbrush renders it a useful tool for the dental hygiene for this special part of the dental compromised population.