Abstract
Purpose: Despite the availability of a large number of commercial denture cleansing products, only a few are used by wearers of dentures. This may be due to negligence on the part of the wearers of dentures and or the high cost of the products. We, therefore, felt inspired to study the antifungal effect of different materials usually available in the kitchen.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty resin acrylic samples were prepared and divided into three groups of 50 samples each and immersed into variable concentrations of: Sodium chloride (Group I), Sodium bicarbonate (Group II), and vinegar (Group III). In addition, 10 samples were immersed into water as a control group (Group IV). Minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum immersion time needed were studied for each group.
Results: The solutions were only found to be effective against Candida albicans in concentrations higher than 50 ml/200 ml, 10 g/200 ml and 5 g/200 ml of vinegar, sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride respectively. The same concentrations were more effective when acrylic resin plates were immersed for 8 hours rather than 1 hour (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and vinegar are not strong enough as denture cleansing agents in low concentrations. However, high concentrations used for 8 hours might be helpful for the user of dentures.