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Denture Stomatitis - An Interdisciplinary Clinical Review

Now online in the Journal of Prosthodontics, an Open Access Review article on denture stomatitis.

This interdisciplinary clinical review outlines the etiopathogenesis, clinical features, and management strategies of denture stomatitis from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Denture stomatitis is a very common condition, affecting between 20% and 80% of denture wearers, with a worldwide geographical distribution. It is primarily caused by poor oral hygiene, poor denture hygiene, and full-time, mainly night-time, denture wear. It manifests clinically as an erythematous inflammation of the denture-bearing mucosa. The condition is usually asymptomatic and is often noted by clinicians rather than by their patients.

Denture stomatitis can affect all denture wearers, including those who wear removable partial dentures, conventional complete dentures, conventional overdentures, and implant overdentures as well as those wearing dentures with and without metal frameworks.

Primary treatment of denture stomatitis should be targeted toward biofilm cleaning and disinfection at the prosthesis level. Effective, long-term treatment of denture stomatitis relies upon sustained patient-driven behavioral change which should focus on daily prosthesis-level cleaning and disinfection, removal of dentures at night, every night, engagement with professional denture maintenance, and when required, denture replacement.

For frail, older, medically compromised, and nursing home populations, treatment of denture stomatitis lowers the risk of aspirational pneumonia and associated mortality.

McReynolds, DE, Moorthy, A, Moneley, JOC, Jabra-Rizk, MA, Sultan, AS. Denture stomatitis—An interdisciplinary clinical review. J Prosthodont. 2023; 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopr.13687

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