Clinical Study Comparing the Efficacy of Two Denture Adhesives in Complete Denture Patients

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of two denture adhesives in edentulous patients wearing complete maxillary and mandibular dentures. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four edentulous patients were treated with complete dentures following a standardized protocol. Resistance to dislodgement of both dentures was measured in simulated functional movements by means of a gnathometer and a dynamometer. These outcome measurements were assessed first without the adhesive and then after two successive 2-week periods of using a randomly assigned denture adhesive in a crossover experimental design. The adhesives used were a standard one (Kukident Classic) and a new adhesive with a similar formulation but different physical characteristics (Kukident Pro). Results: Twenty-four patients (mean age: 58 years) participated in this study. Gnathometer results demonstrated significant differences between the nonadhesive group and both the experimental adhesive (P = .008) and the control adhesive groups (P = .021). Differences between both adhesive groups were not significant (P = .161). Dynamometer results showed highly significant differences between the maxillary and mandibular dentures in both the nonadhesive group and the two adhesive groups (P = .0001). Similarly, highly significant differences were found when any of the adhesive groups were compared with the nonadhesive group (P = .0001). The patient subjective evaluation was very favorable for both adhesives. Conclusions: This study confirms the predicted and expected improvement in the stability and retention of wellfitting complete dentures with the adjunctive use of adhesives. The observed and recorded improvements with the new adhesive as compared to the traditional one were not statistically significant.