Pages 20, Language: EnglishMihoc, R. / Hobkirk, J. A. / Armitage, D. / Jones, F. H.The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the effect of denture adhesive on maxillary denture performance and patient perceptions. Dentists in private practice were solicited to assist in recruitment of their own patients as subjects and to administer the study. The participating dentists recruited 194 patients (39% male, 61% female) with maxillary complete dentures. Of this population, 50.2% had a mandibular removable complete denture, 34.4% had a mandibular removable partial denture, and 15.4% had lower natural dentition and/or an implant supported prosthesis in the lower arch. The average age of the subjects was 66.6 years old, and 61.8% were currently using adhesives. The gnathometer was used to assess the subjects' anterior bite force (0 to 10 scale) to denture dislodgement before and after the application of a denture adhesive on their maxillary complete denture. Subjects were also asked to evaluate the denture performance, speaking and chewing, fit and comfort, and confidence with the adhesive versus without the adhesive as "improved," "same," or "worse". The average force of dislodgement for dentures without adhesives was 3.3 compared to 5.2 with adhesive. At least 63.4% of the subjects found an improvement in bite force with the use of the adhesive. Subjects also perceived improvement with use of adhesive as compared to without adhesive in the following areas: 79.45% in denture performance, 55.9% in speaking and chewing, 55.9% in fit and comfort, and 64.0% in confidence. Unfortunately, no data was collected on instrument reliability, and no statistical analysis was carried out on the data collected.
